Matchmaker
by forgiving
Summary: Harry's been diagnosed with a terminal illness. More aware of the time he has left and the world around him he notices plenty of his friend, old and new, dancing around each other. He is determined that before he dies he will set them up. Hogwarts students, past and present, have no idea what's about to hit them.
1. Prologue- Part 1

The first four books happened exactly and most of OotF happened with difference at the end. But HBP and DH never happened.

Main Couples: **HG/RW, SB/RL, SS/DM,** NL/LL, **GW/BZ,** OW/AG, LJ/KB, BW/OC, CW/AS, PW/PC, GW/FW, **SF/JF-F, DT/HA, PP/TB, TN/SB**

 **A/N: So this is part two, when Harry gets diagnosed. It starts off the same as the original story then turns slowly into mine.** **This is Unbetad. Read if you dare.**

Prologue- part two

Nearly five years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys´ front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed.

Five years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.

Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it.

He had a funny feeling he´d had the same dream before.

His aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly," said Harry.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don´t you dare let it burn. "

Harry groaned, which turned into a hacking cough.

"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing…"

Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.

When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath a load of present that Harry knew were for his cousin to "Reward him for his excellent school grades and good behaviour." It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley´s favourite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn´t often catch him. Harry didn´t look it, but he was very fast.

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley´s, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she said. "And don´t ask questions."

 _Don´t ask questions_ \- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.

"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.

About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way- all over the place.

Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel- Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.

Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn´t much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. "twenty-five," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That´s less than my birthday."

"Darling, you haven´t counted Auntie Marge´s present, see, it´s here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."

"All right, twenty-six then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.

Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we´ll buy you another two presents while we´re out today. How´s that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.

Finally he said slowly, "So I´ll have twenty… twenty …"

"Twenty-eight, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.

"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."

Uncle Vernon chuckled.

"Little tyke wants his money´s worth, just like his father. ´Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley´s hair.

At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.

"That was the doctor's surgery," she said. "They've got his," She jerked her head in Harry´s direction, "test results back. They told me that they need to see us as soon as possible. I made an appointment for this afternoon."

Dudley´s mouth fell open in horror and Harry´s heart gave a leap. Harry had been sick almost constantly for three months now. It had started nearly a year ago actually, with him having on and off chest infections. He was persistent coughing and wheezing and usually coughed up mucus. The first doctor, after his sixth visit in a year last month, had decided to do some tests.

Now the tests had come back he was both nervous and relieved. Nervous because of how quickly they had to see the results and relieved because he would, hopefully, find out what was wrong.

"Why would they want to talk to us so urgently?" asked Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he´d planned this.

"Don't know. We'll find out later."

"More importantly, what are we going to do about today? I don't want to ruin Dudley's day. We had it all planed out."

"We could phone Marge and she could take him," Uncle Vernon suggested.

"Don´t be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."

The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn´t there or rather, as thought he was something very nasty that couldn´t understand them, like a slug.

"What about what´s –her-name, your friend Yvonne?"

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.

"I suppose you could take him while I and Dudley split off for afternoon tea, then dump him back at Mrs Figg's and join us afterward."

"I suppose I'll have to." Aunt Petunia looked as though she´d just swallowed a lemon.

Dudley began to cry loudly. "Dinky Duddydums, don´t cry. Mummy won´t let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.

"I… don´t… want… you… t-t-to go… w-with him!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!"

"I'm sorry, Dinky Duddydums, if there was any way to get out of it I would."

After ten minutes, a lot of tears and Aunt Petunia reassuring Dudley, things finely quietened down and Harry was rushed over to Mrs Figg's house.

A few hours later Harry was waiting in the doctors surgery waiting room, enviously watching some other children played in the play area. Aunt Petunia had forbidden him from going and joining in. They were just about to start a new game when Harry's name was called and Aunt Petunia pulled him from the room.

Doctor Frank was a nice doctor, who always gave Harry a sweet and a smile whenever he saw him. Now though he was not smiling. He looked grave as he asked them to sit. "Mrs Dursley, your son's-"

"Nephew," his Aunt corrected. "And can we make this quick, I had plans today."

"Your nephew's results came back positive on two counts," the man continued. "The first count was for a developing virus than can be taken care of with a simple vaccine."

"That's good," his Aunt cut in. "Just give him the vaccine, then we can be gone." She turned to Harry. "Role up your sleeve so he can give you the injection." Harry did so and Doctor Frank motioned for his nurse to get the vaccine.

"I'm afraid it will not be that simple. Harry also test positive for cystic fibrosis." Seeing her confused he went on to explain about the decease and what it entailed. "It will also shorten his life span. He would be lucky to reach the age of 30," he concluded.

"Will this treatment cost much? Is there any way to get rid of it?" Petunia fired off question after question, only waiting long enough for the doctor to answer before asking another. Meanwhile, the nurse had come in and vaccinated Harry and he sat watching the proceedings through curios eyes.

Finally, when his Aunt had exhausted her questions, he asked, "What wrong with me, Mr Frank?"

"Your very ill, Harry," he explained, kneeling down to look him in the eye. "You have some horrid gunk in your lungs, which are here" he pointed to Harry's chest "and you use them to breathe. This gunk makes it hard to breathe and give you coughs a lot. It also means you can ill more easily and that you will have to see a special doctor once a week to make you feel better. He will explain it better than me, okay?" Harry nodded. Doctor Frank turned to his Aunt and gave her some pieces of paper before he they left.

Just as he was leaving the building he felt his chest tighten and began to cough bringing up horrid gunk. His Aunt watched this without comment before pulling him up and along to the house, all the while muttering about no good freaks who couldn't even use their freakiness to stay healthy.

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It was nearly a month later when they actually found the time or the effort to take Harry to see the specialist. This time his uncle dropped them off at a big, white building with a big sign announcing the name of the hospital, Redhill. His Aunt dragged him inside and along endless corridors before she pushed him down into a chair, told him if he moved an inch she would flay him alive and went to give his name to the receptionist.

Looking around Harry noticed there where several other children but a lot more grown-ups. A small wail caught his attention and he turned to see a small room with the door open. Shifting a little, he saw a woman trying to calm a small baby while a little girl watched. He was about to look away when the girl turned and spotted him watching. She smiled, which grew wider when he returned the smile.

His aunt returned just then and he switched his focus to her as she pulled him off the chair and told him to follow her. He looked back in time to see the small girl wave and happily waved back. He turned around and scuttled after his Aunt as she walked down the corridor.

She stopped outside a black door with the number 11 in bold above. "Get in!" she barked as she opened the door. Harry scampered inside. "Sit," she pointed to a chair against the wall as she walked in. the doctor, a pretty, black haired, black skinned woman, looked shocked at the way she addressed him but soon recovered her composure. Aunt petunia sat in the chair opposite her.

"Mr Potter, Mrs Potter-" she began, only to be cut off by petunia's clipped voice.

"Mrs Dursley," she corrected. Seeing the doctor's blank look, she explained, "My name is Mrs Dursley. The boy is my nephew; his parents died and left him in my care. Horrid boy," she added as an afterthought.

"Mrs Dursley," she corrected, and then seemed to forget that Harry was there. "My name is doctor Riddlesonge. I'm to be Mr Potter's paediatrician specialist on his case. I have to admit, however, that it is unique. The test came back positive, leading to an automatic referral, but barley any of his symptoms match those of cystic fibrosis. I would like to run the test again and in the meantime start his treatment."

What followed was one of the most boring conversations Harry had ever listened to and most of the language went way over his head. Within minutes he was bored and the conversation was over an hour long before the doctor seemed to remember he was there.

"Mr Potter, can I call you Harry?" she asked. When Harry nodded she continued to say, "Harry, did Doctor Frank explain what's wrong with you?" again he shook his head. "You have a condition called cystic fibrosis. That means that you have all this horrible gunk in you lung's called mucus that builds up, making it hard for you to breath. You have to take medicine to keep it from building up too much and come in to the hospital from time to time to have it taken away. Do you understand?" he nodded. A strange look graced her face and she asked, "Harry, can you talk?"

She watched him glance at his Aunt before whispering, "Yes, but I'm not allowed to talk unless Aunt Petunia say's I can."

Doctor Riddlesonge nodded to show she understood. "Do you have any questions, Harry?"

With another glance at his Aunt he asked, fumbling over the words, "How did I get cystrick fibbrosis?"

"Do you know what genetic disorders are?"

"He's six and a half, how's he supposed to know that?" his Aunt snapped.

"Okay, every person is made up of lots of little things called cells. Inside every cell of each living thing are sets of instructions called genes. The genes provide the instructions on what is the plant or animal, what it looks like, how it is to survive, and how it will interact with its surrounding environment. The genes are strung together in long stands of material called DNA and these long strands are called chromosomes. Most living things have pairs of chromosomes, one from each parent.

"In your case, Harry, each of your parents gave you a bed gene that didn't do what it was supposed to. Neither of your parents needs to have the gene, although if you look back in both family trees you will find that they have had a blood relative with the disorder. This creates the wrong gene and passes it on until a matching gene is introduced in the baby. They could have four kids, however, and odds are that only one of them would have the decease. We say this is a one in four chance of a child who's both parents carry the gene of getting the disease. Okay? Do you understand?"

Harry nodded, smiling. "If that is all, we must be going. I have other appointments and my own son to get home to," his Aunt interrupted.

"Yes, of course, sorry," Doctor Riddlesonge said, flustered. "I just need a nurse to take a test sample and to write out Harry's prescriptions, then you can go." She picked up the phone on the desk next to her and without dialling said, "Could you send in nurse D'Lacey with the test kit please? Thank you." She replaced the receiver and turned her chair into the desk. She pulled out several green pieces of paper and began to write on each one. A moment later and a nice looking woman with blue highlighted hair came in.

Harry stared. "Your hair," he blurted, causing his Aunt's lips to thin and the nurse to laugh.

"Don't worry dearie, it's meant to look like this. I coloured it this colour. Now then open your shirt for me so I can get some sweat on this pad." Harry did so and she swiped a cotton pad across his chest. "All done!" she chirped, placing the pad into a container. She then tottered out of the room at the same time as Doctor Riddlesonge turned around and handed his Aunt the papers she had been writing on.

"These need to be administered three times a day," she said, pointing to two pieces. "This one needs to be administered once a month and this one once every fortnight. The packets will contain further instructions. I'll see you in two months, Mrs Dursley, Harry."


	2. Prologue- final part

The first four books happened exactly and most of OotF happened with difference at the end. But HBP and DH never happened.

Main Couples: **HG/RW** , **SB/RL** , **SS/DM** , NL/LL, **GW/BZ** , OW/AG, LJ/KB, BW/OC, CW/OC, PW/PC, GW/FW, **SF/JF-F** , **DT/HA** , **PP/TB** , **TN/SB**

 **A/N This is part three, where Harry tells the teachers about his illness. Watch out for the twist though.** **This is Unbetad. Read if you dare.**

Prologue- part three

Harry listened carefully to the headmaster as he introduced each teacher and made a mental note to see madam Pomfrey to discuss his cystic fibrosis. He knew that the headmaster and his head of house, professor McGonagall, he thought, as the headmaster introduced her needed to know to.

Harry listened to the headmaster announce that the forbidden forest was forbidden in silence and not to go to the first floor in silence before they were all sent to bed. The Gryffindor prefect, Ron's Brother Percy, led them to the tower and showed them the dorms.

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Harry hesitated as he packed away, the rest of the class filling out of the classroom. His first impression on his head of house hadn't been good but he still needed to talk to her. Finally, waving Ron on to his next class, he approached the professor's desk, where she sat head down marking a paper. "Professor?" he said.

She looked up from her marking and said sharply "off to your next class, Mr Potter."

"Professor, I need to talk to you, the headmaster and Madame Pomfrey. I-"

"Why the matron, Mr Potter? Surely you have not injured yourself already?"

"No, Professor. I have an illness that I take medication for and-"

She held up her hand, peering at him over her glasses. "You look fine to me, Mr Potter. I will, however, arrange a meeting with the staff for you to explain. I will send word to you when." Taking that as a dismissal, Harry turned and begun to walk towards the door. "Just a minute, Mr Potter, you will need a note for your next lesson."

"Thank you, Professor," he said as he left. He didn't see her worried gaze aimed at his back.

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It was Friday by the time he heard from Professor McGonagall and Harry was feeling the effects. He was beginning to have coughing fit and always felt tight-chested. His dizzy spells were back and he was throwing up phlegm. All in all he was glad when word came on Friday that he was to go to the hospital wing the next morning.

He was surprised to find all of the teachers there when he arrived and hesitantly walked in to the room. "On the bed Mr Potter, I'll examine you after, while you're here," a woman he recognised as Madame Pomfrey said. He moved over to the nearby bed and scrambled up till he was sitting at the top, leaning on the cushions. The matron motioned for him to start talking.

"When I was younger, I always got ill," he began. "I had bad chest infections all the time and would cough up mucus, badly, and no medicine would ever work to make me better. Then when I was five, I began to have dizzy spells and get really short of breath. They thought I had asthma but my chest never felt tight. So when I was six my aunt finally took me to the doctors and they did a load of tests. The tests kept coming back negative. The doctor decided, going on instinct, to try one last test. It came back positive. My specialist was a bit confused because my symptoms barley matched. He re-ran the test and again it came back positive for cystic fibrosis again. Only my aunt didn't give me my medicines when I came here and I need to have a special treatment to get the liquid out of my lungs. And you needed to know anyway."

By the end of his speech, Harry was looking at the quilt in embarrassment. He peeked up through his lashes. A few of the teachers looked shocked. Madame Pomfrey looked thoughtful and the headmaster didn't seem surprised. Snape, however, seemed angry. "Potter, you can't have cystic whatever. Neither of your parents had it and-"

"But neither of your parents needs to have it. They only need to carry the gene for it. Like I know on my mother's side my great-great-grandmother had cystic fibrosis but although none of her children inherited it, they still carried the gene. Somewhere in my father's line the gene was introduced and because both my parents carried the gene there was a one in four chance that any children they had would have the disease."

The teachers started at him for a few seconds, before Madame Pomfrey snapped out of it and moved over running her wand from his head to his toes. A piece of parchment flew appeared from nowhere and she read it through humming occasionally. "You said that the symptoms didn´t match properly. Can you tell me them?"

"Well, I start to feel more weak and dizzy, along with short breathed, if I don´t get rid of the mucus. If I miss a set of meds I start to get really bad stomach cramps, diarrhoea and heart burn until I take the next meds set. If I miss more than a few sets I will likely start to cough up blood mixed mucus. It's horrid."

The room was deathly quiet for a few seconds. Then professor Snape snorted disbelievingly.

Madame Pomfrey glared at him before addressing Harry. "I'm going to run a test, Mr potter. The symptoms you described are familiar." At Harry's confused look she explained. "I don´t think you have this citrus fibros, Harry. In fact you can't because you are a wizard and wizards and witches can´t get most muggle diseases and illnesses. I just hope that I am wrong." She muttered the last sentence to herself but the rest of the teachers still heard.

She began to wave her wand in a very long and integrant pattern. It took nearly five minutes to run the test and another half an hour for the results. During this time, Snape left, a Harry, feeling more comfortable, asked the teachers some questions about the work they did.

Suddenly there was a small pop and a piece of paper appeared in mid-air. Madame Pomfrey plucked it and read through. She grew pale before visibly stealing herself and sitting down at the edge of Harry's bed. "Harry, I'm afraid I was right. You have Humor Viscerum." A horrified gasp came from the females of the room, professor Flickwick squeaked and the headmaster just stood in shock.

"Madame Pomfrey what is humour visairoma? From everyone's reactions, I'm guessing it's bad but what-"

"do you know nothing about magical illnesses, Mr potter?" the matron asked. Harry shock his head. "Humor Viscerum is what it translates as. Liquid of the organs. It means that you have fluid, mucus, in your internal organs. It starts in different organs depending on the person's lifestyle. I'm guessing that with you it started with your lungs. From the history you gave me, I think it then spread to your liver and stomach. According to this," she indicated the results in her hand, "it recently started to spread to you pancreas which creates important hormones and is underneath your stomach."

"what's so bad about that?"

"Harry," professor McGonagall said softly, "eventually it will spread to your heart. Most people don't live past their 20th birthday." Harry stared in shock. He felt numb. He didn´t hear the Headmaster begin to question Madame Pomfrey. He didn't notice Professor Snapes return. His only thought was, 'I'm going to die.'

It was the shouting that finally brought Harry back down to earth. "he's faking to get attention!" Snape roared.

"He can't be, Severus, this test is never wrong. You know that," Madame Pomfrey tried to argue. Harry sat there blinking at them, not really engaging what was being said, just that there was loads of noise.

Finally, someone noticed that Harry was silent and turned from the show in front of them, back to the bed. Professor Flickwick said his name but got no response. He moved forward to the end of the bed and look at the boy. He was thin, to thin, his mind registered. He was pale and his glasses show his normally responsive eyes to be blank. "Poopy!"

"WHAT?" she said, sounding angry. Turning towards the voice she was surprised to see Filius at the end of the bed. "Filius?" she asked more calmer. He just motioned to Harry and the medi-witch moved forward to see what was the mater. She gasped as she got a good look at him. "He's in shock," she murmured.

"What do we do?"

"Let it were of then deal with an emotional eleven year old," she said. She summoned a calming and sleeping draught and placed it on the bed side. She moved up to the top of the bed and lowered the still numb Harry down so he was laying down facing up. Then she turned to the still ranting Severus and barked, "silence! This is a hospital ward and if you can't be quiet while I deal with a patent then you can leave!"

Severus didn't seem deterred, if anything this seemed to make him madder. Only Filius noticed Harry blink and turn his head to see what was going on.

When it seemed that Severus was not going to calm down Albus pulled out his wand and stunned him. He then walked over to him and to everyone's shock announced "obliviate," while holding the wand to the man's head. Once done he called a house elf and told the creature to dispossite the potions master in bed dressed appropriately.

Once the man was gone he sighed. "Albus?" Minerva whispered.

"Poppy, you could I trouble you for a calming drought?" the medi-witch summoned one and handed it over. "Thank you. Now no one is to mention this to Severus. It had to be done he is to emotionally involved with this. Please." All of the staff nodded. Then they turned to look at harry who seemed to be "waking" up. "It will only stress young Harry more to have Severus hanging over his head."

Again, everyone nodded. Then they watched as Harry came back to himself and began to cry, curling up into a ball. They watched as he cried for a while before Poppy gave him the calming and sleeping draughts and he slept. Later, plans were made with the help of Harry, the illness was explained in full and they watched a little boy grow up overnight.


	3. Chapter 1- Memories

**A/N This is Unbetad. Read if you dare. Read Notes at bottom.**

Chapter 1- Death Draws Nearer

Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. Sirius flew backwards and with a crack that echoed in the near silent room, his head connected with the side of the veil and slide to the ground. As Harry watched him waiting for any sign of movement a small puddle of blood wetted his hair and spread around his head.

Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.

"SIRIUS!" he bellowed. "SIRIUS!"

"He can't wake up, Harry," said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. "He can't wake up, because he's d -"

"HE-IS-NOT- DEAD!" roared Harry. "SIRIUS!"

There was movement going on around them, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To Harry it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past them did not matter, nothing mattered except that Lupin should stop pretending that Sirius-who was who was lying there about to wake up any minute and complain that he had a headache then rejoin the fight - was not going to wake up - was dead-

Lupin dragged Harry away from the dais. Harry still staring at Sirius now, was angry at Sirius now for keeping him waiting-

But some part of him realised, even as he fought to break free from Lupin, that Sirius had never kept him waiting before ... Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry to help him ... if Sirius was not waking up when Harry was yelling for him as though his life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he could not... that he really was-

Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilised by invisible ropes; Mad-Eye Moody had crawled across the room to where Tonks lay, and was attempting to revive her; behind the dais there were still flashes of light, grunts and cries-Kingsley had run forward to continue Sirius's duel with Bellatrix.

"Harry?"

Neville had slid down the stone benches one by one to the place where Harry stood. Harry was no longer struggling against Lupin, who maintained a precautionary grip on his arm nevertheless.

"Harry ... I'b really sorry ..." said Neville. His legs were still dancing uncontrollably. "Was dad man-was Sirius Black a-a friend of yours?"

Harry nodded.

"Here," said Lupin quietly, and pointing his wand at Neville's legs he said, "Finite." The spell was lifted: Neville's legs fell back to the floor and remained still. Lupin's face was pale. "Let's-let's find the others. Where are they all, Neville?"

Lupin turned away from the archway as he spoke. It sounded as though every word was causing him pain.

"Dey're all back dere," said Neville. "A brain addacked Ron bud I dink he's all righd-and Herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse-"

There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais. Harry saw Kingsley hit the ground yelling in pain: Bellatrix Lestrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her but she deflected it; she was halfway up the steps now -

"Harry-no!" cried Lupin, but Harry had already ripped his arm from Lupin's slackened grip.

"SHE KILLED SIRIUS!" bellowed Harry. "SHE KILLED HIM-I'LL KILL HER!"

And he was off, scrambling up the stone benches; people were shouting behind him but he did not care. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in the room where the brains were swimming...

She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Harry was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within: the brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long coloured tentacles, but he shouted, 'Wingardium Leviosa!' and they flew off him up into the air. Slipping and sliding, he ran on towards the door; he leapt over Luna, who was groaning on the floor, past Ginny, who said, "Harry-what-?", past Ron, who giggled feebly, and Hermione, who was still unconscious. He wrenched open the door into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix disappearing through a door on the other side of the room; beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts.

He ran, but she had slammed the door behind her and the walls were already rotating. Once more, he was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.

"Where's the exit?" he shouted desperately, as the wall rumbled to a halt again. "Where's the way out?"

The room seemed to have been waiting for him to ask. The door right behind him flew open and the corridor towards the lifts stretched ahead of him, torch-lit and empty. He ran...

He could hear a lift clattering ahead; he sprinted up the passageway, swung around the corner and slammed his fist on to the button to call a second lift. It jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open and Harry dashed inside, now hammering the button marked 'Atrium'. The doors slid shut and he was rising...

He forced his way out of the lift before the grilles were fully open and looked around. Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as he sprinted towards her and aimed another spell at him. He dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren: the spell zoomed past him and hit the wrought-gold gates at the other end of the Atrium so that they rang like bells. There were no more footsteps. She had stopped running. He crouched behind the statues, listening.

"Come out, come out, little Harry!" she called in her mock baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!"

"I am!" shouted Harry, and a score of ghostly Harry's seemed to chorus I am! I am! I am! all around the room.

"Aaaaaah ... did you love him, little baby Potter?"

Hatred rose in Harry such as he had never known before; he flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed, "Crucio!"

Bellatrix screamed: the spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe and shriek with pain as Neville had-she was already back on her feet, breathless, no longer laughing. Harry dodged behind the golden fountain again. Her counter-spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.

"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain-to enjoy it-righteous anger won't hurt me for long-I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson-"

Harry was edging around the fountain on the other side when she screamed, "Crucio!" and he was forced to duck down again as the centaur's arm, holding its bow, span off and landed with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.

"Potter, you cannot win against me!" she cried.

He could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of him. He backed around the statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur's legs, his head level with the house-elf's.

"I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete-"

"Stupefy!" yelled Harry. He had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain. She reacted so fast he barely had time to duck.

"Protego!"

The jet of red light, his own Stunning Spell, bounced back at him. Harry scrambled back behind the fountain and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.

"Potter, I'm going to give you one chance!" shouted Bellatrix. "Give me the prophecy-roll it out towards me now-and I may spare your life!"

"Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" Harry roared and, as he shouted it, pain seared across his forehead; his scar was on fire again, and he felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with his own rage. "And he knows!" said Harry, with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix's own. "Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?"

"What? What do you mean?" she cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.

"The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?"

His scar seared and burned ... the pain of it was making his eyes stream...

"LIAR!" she shrieked, but he could hear the terror behind the anger now. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME! Accio prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"

Harry laughed again because he knew it would incense her, the pain building in his head so badly he thought his skull might burst. He waved his empty hand from behind the one-eared goblin and withdrew it quickly as she sent another jet of green light flying at him.

"Nothing there!" he shouted. "Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that!"

"No!" she screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying! MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED-DO NOT PUNISH ME-"

"Don't waste your breath!" yelled Harry, his eyes screwed up against the pain in his scar, now more terrible than ever. "He can't hear you from here!"

"Can't I, Potter?" said a high, cold voice.

Harry opened his eyes.

Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-pupilled eyes staring ... Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at Harry who stood frozen, quite unable to move.

"So, you smashed my prophecy?" said Voldemort softly, staring at Harry with those pitiless red eyes. "No, Bella, he is not lying ... I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind ... months of preparation, months of effort ... and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again ..."

"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black!" sobbed Bellatrix, flinging herself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "Master, you should know-"

"Be quiet, Bella," said Voldemort dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?"

"But Master-he is here-he is below-"

Voldemort paid no attention.

"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said quietly. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist; his mind was blank, his wand pointing uselessly at the floor.

But the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth to land with a crash on the floor between Harry and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms to protect Harry.

"What-?" cried Voldemort, staring around. And then he breathed, "Dumbledore!"

Harry looked behind him, his heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.

Voldemort raised his wand and another jet of green light streaked at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak. Next second, he had reappeared behind Voldemort and waved his wand towards the remnants of the fountain. The other statues sprang to life. The statue of the witch ran at Bellatrix, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at her, pinning her to the floor. Meanwhile, the goblin and the house-elf scuttled towards the fireplaces set along the wall and the one-armed centaur galloped at Voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool. The headless statue thrust Harry backwards, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and the golden centaur cantered around them both.

"It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom," said Dumbledore calmly. "The Aurors are on their way-"

"By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!" spat Voldemort. He sent another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flame.

Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Harry, though shielded by his golden guard, felt his hair stand on end as it passed and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note reverberated from it-an oddly chilling sound.

"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are you?"

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk towards Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit-"

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.

"You are quite wrong," said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless; he wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless guard kept shunting him backwards towards the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out from behind it. "Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness-"

Another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. This time it was the one-armed centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces, but before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip; it wrapped itself around Voldemort, shield and all. For a moment, it seemed Dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold on Voldemort at once and turned, hissing furiously, to face Dumbledore.

Voldemort vanished; the snake reared from the floor, ready to strike-

There was a burst of flame in midair above Dumbledore just as Voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.

"Look out!" Harry yelled.

But even as he shouted, another jet of green light flew at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand and the snake struck-

Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the jet of green light whole: he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless. At the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one long, fluid movement-the snake, which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished in a wisp of dark smoke; and the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass.

For a few seconds Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass-

Then he was gone and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.

"MASTER!" screamed Bellatrix.

Sure it was over, sure Voldemort had decided to flee, Harry made to run out from behind his statue guard, but Dumbledore bellowed: "Stay where you are, Harry!"

For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened. Harry could not see why: the hall was quite empty but for themselves, the sobbing Bellatrix still trapped under the witch statue, and the baby phoenix Fawkes croaking feebly on the floor-'

Then Harry's scar burst open and he knew he was dead: it was pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance—

Then he stood in a room, at least he thought it was a room, everything was black. He could just see a wall in front and what looked like a door. He stared for a minute before he heard, like it was coming through a tunnel, "Kill me now, Dumbledore ..." With it came a throbbing pain in his scare and jaw, and that, above all was what made him realise what was going on.

Voldermort had possessed him, was using his body, was in his mind. _But_ , that little slytherin part of him whispered, _doesn't that mean I have access to his mind as well, I bet that's what that door is._ He stepped closer to the door shaped shadow but it appeared to stay the same distance away. Then he remembered something he had read in one of the books on occulmency. He turned and there was a door painted silver, slightly agar. He walked towards it and gasped as he realised that his mind appeared to be otherwise unprotected.

He stepped through the door and immediately was assaulted with pictures. He guessed they were memories. He reached out and touched the nearest one.

 _He was sitting in a large room made of stone. Below him was a sea of people in robes and white masks, bowing to show their respect. "Rodolphus, what do you have for me?" a voice said. Faintly Harry realised that instead of being an observer in Voldemort's memory, he was Voldermort, like his visions._

" _My Lord, the Potter boy is overly attached to his godfather. According to sources, he would do anything for Black," one of the black clad figures near the front replied._

" _Excellent, Rodolphus, you will be rewarded for your information," he hissed. "Bella, what of the mudblood family I asked to be captured and terminated?"_

" _They are in the dungeons, my Lord, all except the father. He died in the confrontation, a rebound blasting curse caught the ceiling above him and he died as it crushed him. I am sorry my Lord for not completing your orders, I tried, I really did," she grovelled._

" _Bella, I care not if one of the mudbloods died, it only brought forward the inevitable. They are merely tonight's entertainment. Worm tail!" one of the black figures squeaked, "take Avery and Nott, and bring the family."_

 _Three figures bowed with a "Yes, My Lord," and leaving. He continued to command his followers and receive news while waiting for his followers to return with the prisoners. Wormtail was dragging a woman by her hair when he returned and each of Avery and Nott dragged a young teenage girl by their arms the youngest looking not much older than Harry. Nott also carried a small boy under his free arm, looking to be around seven._

" _Ah, our entertainment has arrived. Rodolphus, Bella, your reward you may choose your toy to share between you. Macnair, you may have the boy serve you for as long as you choose. I wish to have the mother. The rest of you may take turns on the remaining toy at your pleasure. Do not kill them!"_

 _He stood, walking down from his dais, watching as the married couple picked out the youngest woman and Macnair shot a stunner at the struggling boy and tugged him to the floo. He approached the mother and ran his wand down her check._

Harry ripped himself from the memory, not wishing to see what happened next. He walked along the corridor of memories, looking along to see if anything caught his eye. He walked for what seemed like hours before he came to a familiar scene. It was the graveyard. He went to move on quickly, but then he saw that it was looking at the graveyard from afar, not in the graveyard. He reached out and touched it, feeling himself merge with the memory.

 _He was walking along a country lane. He passed the wooden sign with two arms. The one pointing back the way they had come read: "Great Hangleton, 5 miles". The arm pointing after Ogden said "Little Hangleton, 1 mile"._

 _He walked a short way with nothing to see but the hedgerows, the wide blue sky overhead and the swishing, frock-coated figure ahead. Then the lane curved to the left and fell away, sloping steeply down a hillside, so that he had a sudden, unexpected view of a whole valley laid out in front of them. He could see a village, undoubtedly Little Hangleton, nestled between two steep hills, its church and graveyard clearly visible. Across the valley, set on the opposite hillside, was a handsome manor house surrounded by a wide expanse of velvety green lawn._

 _That was his destination, after he had visited the home where his mother grew up and visited his uncle. He needed to borrow a wand, his own wouldn't do, Dumbledore would most likely check his wand when he went back to school, and besides, his own still had the ministry tracker until Christmas._

 _He vaguely wondered if this was the right thing to do but pushed that thought out of his mind. He needed to make these Hocruxes so that he was immortal. And he needed to be immortal to rule the wizarding world. He would not be beaten by death._

Harry pulled out of the memory, puzzled. "What's a Hocrux?" he asked himself. He jumped when suddenly the memories began to move. It was like a conveyer belt of memories, some moving off to the side in front of him. He tried to watch the memories but soon became dizzy so watched the memories 'pile' in front of him. When the strange process finished he had over twenty memories in front of him. He thought for a while and decided to start at the first memory and work his way forward.

What followed was a discovery that stunned, horrified and generally revolted Harry. He learned what Hocruxes were, how to make them, the ritual to do so in perfect detail and, thankfully, how to destroy them.

The next memory he came to after viewing one with a conversation with a professor Slughorn was the one that lead to this discovery. He re-entered the memory, this time watching the whole memory. He watched as Voldemort stunned and stole the wand of his uncle, used it to kill his father and grandparents, perform the ritual to pull the split parts of his soul from his body and encase them in the diary he recognised from his second year and a ring which held a familiar crest he recognised from someway. He watch as he returned to the little hut and gave his uncle his wand back. Watched ripped up a floor board and stored the ring there and begun to cast wards with another wand, again not his own. He then he edited his uncles memories and intoxicated him. As he watched Voldemort walk beck up the lane, leaving the little village behind the memory began to blur and suddenly he was back in the strange corridor.

He moved on to the next memory and found himself in strange building. There was a woman, asleep in the bed next to him. Harry watched as Voldemort raised his wand and killed her, again performing the ritual to pull his split piece of soul and place in a locket that he instantly recognised. He watched, and unfortunately felt, as he apparated to a hall he didn't recognise and summon the Death Eaters. As he demanded the use of an elf and one that Harry vaguely recognised offered him one. The memory began to blur as the Death Eater meeting continued.

The next memory was of the Death Eater presenting him with an elf. If Harry had not been so moulded to Voldemort right then he would have gasped. Stood in front of him was Kreacher. Through his shock he watched as he grabbed the elf and had the same feeling of apparition and they arrived on a cliff by the sea. Again, he apparated in to a large cave. He watched as they crossed an underground lake that Harry was sure was not made of water. body's floated in the liquid, bumping against the boat. The man and elf arrived at an island and Kreacher was commanding to drink a liquid in a crystal bowl. He watched horrified as Kreacher screamed and begged to stop and how Voldermort just ignored him, placing the same locket from, a locket that Harry now knew where he recognised it from, in to the bowl and re-filled it. He then left and as the memory blurred, the last thing he saw was Kreacher crawling to the edge of the island and cupping his hands to drink from the lake. He watched as a pale hand reached up and pulled the elf into the water. Then he was kneeling in the corridor of memories, shaking.

He didn't know how long he sat there, on the floor, shaking. He felt sorry for the elf and sad at how he was treated after what he had been through. He vowed to be kinder to the elf, to ask how he escaped. He also knew he had to ask Kreature what had happened to the locket, whether he had kept it.

He now remembered the locket the one that everyone had tried to open when cleaning out the drawing room in Sirius's house. He ignored that anguish at think of Sirius, shook of the memory of him lying in a pool of blood as he stood.

He moved on to the next memory, watching each memory as it revealed each of the Hocruxes being created, a gold cup with the Hufflepuff crest in graved, a diadem he knew from Luna belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw, a snake, the same snake he had viewed through at Christmas. He watched as each was hidden, the cup gifted to Bellatrix with instructions to keep it safe, the diadem placed atop a statues head in the Room Of Requirement's Room of Hidden Things, the snake kept with him always, layered in protective spells. He finally came to the last memory and as he reached out he had a strange feeling that he was not going to like what he saw.

 _He stood out side a small house, watching as two adults chased a toddler around the room as he flew on a small toy broom. The muggle's trick or treating walked on past as if the house wasn't there._

 _He walked towards the front door and blew it off it's hinges and heard through the smoke_ _a man's voice, shouting, panicking -_ _  
_ _"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -"_ _  
_ _The sounds of someone stumbling up stairs and a door slamming. the smoke cleared revealing the James, wand drawn. Before the man even had a chance to cast he was dead, a bolt of green striking him to the floor._

 _Voldemort barley glanced at him as he stepped over him to glide up the stairs. He heard load wailing from the last door down the corridor and moved towards it. Again he blast the door open. This time stepping through the smoke._

 _The child sat in it's crib, the mudblood girl stood protectively in front of him._

 _"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please - I'll do anything -"_ _  
_ _"Stand aside - stand aside, girl -"_

" _Please not Harry! Kill me! Not Harry!"_

 _He flicked his wand and with a sob and a thump she feel, dead and staring with those unnatural eyes. He raised his wand at the snivelling toddler, drawing his chosen object, a small tapestry with the slytherin family line stitched in, from his pocket. A green spell directed at the toddler and he cast the spell to start the ritual to separate his soul and place it within the object. However, before he could direct it, a jet of green struck his chest and -nothing -he had no feeling -no body -_

 _He had to get away. He flew over the crib, out of the open window. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something black connected with the cut on the boy's forhead. But then the memory blurred and –_

Again, Harry was on the floor. Again, he was shaking but this time with sobs as he mourned his long dead parents, as he noted that he had given her a chance, if she had only stood aside, if she had only let him die, she would be alive.

He sobbed.

As he calmed he thought of what that memory showed.

He was a Horcrux.

He had to die so that Voldemort could be defeated.

He had to die.

Earlier than planed but it made no difference. He was already dying and he had a feeling that this way would be less painful. He stood, determined to tell Dumbledore of this, determined to have control of his own mind again. It hurt fighting for control. It was a deathly pain, one he wanted to stop, to just give in but then he thought of Sirius, lying in a pool of blood and suddenly he was free.

And there were voices echoing through the hall, more voices than there should have been ... Harry opened his eyes, saw his glasses lying by the heel of the headless statue that had been guarding him, but which now lay flat on its back, cracked and immobile. He put them on and raised his head a little to find Dumbledore's crooked nose inches from his own.  
"Are you all right, Harry?"  
"Yes," said Harry, shaking so violently he could not hold his head up properly. "Yeah, I'm -where's Voldemort, where-who are all these-what's-"  
The Atrium was full of people; the floor was reflecting the emerald green flames that had burst into fire in all the fireplaces along one wall; and streams of witches and wizards were emerging from them. As Dumbledore pulled him back to his feet, Harry saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin, leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward.  
"He was there!" shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a pile of golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where Bellatrix had lain trapped only moments before. "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and Disapparated!"  
"I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!" gibbered Fudge, who was wearing pyjamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles. "Merlin's beard-here-here!- in the Ministry of Magic!-great heavens above-it doesn't seem possible-my word-how can this be-?"  
"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Dumbledore- apparently satisfied that Harry was all right, and walking forwards so that the newcomers realised he was there for the first time (a few of them raised their wands; others simply looked amazed; the statues of the elf and goblin applauded and Fudge jumped so much that his slipper-clad feet left the floor) - "you will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them."  
"Dumbledore!" gasped Fudge, beside himself with amazement. "You-here-I-I-"  
He looked wildly around at the Aurors he had brought with him and it could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, "Seize him!"  
"Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men-and win, again!" said Dumbledore in a thunderous voice. "But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong man for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!"  
"I-don't-well-" blustered Fudge, looking around as though hoping somebody was going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said, "Very well-Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see ... Dumbledore, you-you will need to tell me exactly-the Fountain of Magical Brethren-what happened?" he added in a kind of whimper, staring around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard and centaur now lay scattered.  
"We can discuss that after I have sent Harry back to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore.  
"Harry-Harry Potter?"  
Fudge wheeled around and stared at Harry, who was still standing against the wall beside the fallen statue that had guarded him during Dumbledore and Voldemort's duel.  
"He-here?" said Fudge, goggling at Harry. "Why-what's all this about?"  
"I shall explain everything," repeated Dumbledore, "when Harry is back at school."  
He walked away from the pool to the place where the golden wizard's head lay on the floor. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, 'Portus.' The head glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more.  
"Now see here, Dumbledore!" said Fudge, as Dumbledore picked up the head and walked back to Harry carrying it. "You haven't got authorisation for that Portkey! You can't do things like that right in front of the Minister for Magic, you-you-"  
His voice faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.  
"You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts," said Dumbledore. "You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work. I will give you ..." Dumbledore pulled a watch with twelve hands from his pocket and surveyed it..."half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the Headmaster will find me."  
Fudge goggled worse than ever; his mouth was open and his round face grew pinker under his rumpled grey hair. "I-you-"  
Dumbledore turned his back on him.  
"Take this Portkey, Harry."  
He held out the golden head of the statue and Harry placed his hand on it, past caring what he did next or where he went.  
"I shall see you in half an hour," said Dumbledore quietly. "One ... two ... three ..."  
Harry felt the familiar sensation of a hook being jerked behind his navel. The polished wooden floor was gone from beneath his feet; the Atrium, Fudge and Dumbledore had all disappeared and he was flying forwards in a whirlwind of colour and sound...

Harry's feet hit solid ground; his knees buckled a little and the golden wizard's head fell with a resounding clunk to the floor. He looked around and saw that he had arrived in Dumbledore's office.

Everything seemed to have repaired itself during the Headmasters absence. The delicate silver instruments stood once more on the spindle-legged tables, puffing and whirring serenely. The portraits of the headmasters and headmistresses were snoozing in their frames, heads lolling back in armchairs or against the edge of the picture. Harry looked through the window. There was a cool line of pale green along the horizon: dawn was approaching.

The silence and the stillness, broken only by the occasional grunt or snuffle of a sleeping portrait, was unbearable to him. If his surroundings could have reflected the feelings inside him, the pictures would have been screaming in pain. He walked around the quiet, beautiful office, breathing quickly, trying not to think. But he had to think ... there was no escape ...

It was his fault Sirius had died; it was all his fault. If he, Harry, had not been stupid enough to fall for Voldemort's trick, if he had not been so convinced that what he had seen in his dream was real, if he had only opened his mind to the possibility that Voldemort was, as Hermione had said, banking on Harry's love of playing the hero ...

It was unbearable, he would not think about it, he could not stand it ... there was a terrible hollow inside him he did not want to feel or examine, a dark hole where Sirius had been, where Sirius had vanished; he did not want to have to be alone with that great, silent space, he could not stand it-

A picture behind him gave a particularly loud grunting snore, and a cool voice said, "Ah ... Harry Potter ..."

Phineas Nigellus gave a long yawn, stretching his arms as he surveyed Harry out of shrewd, narrow eyes.

"And what brings you here in the early hours of the morning?" said Phineas eventually. "This office is supposed to be barred to all but the rightful Headmaster. Or has Dumbledore sent you here? Oh, don't tell me ..." He gave another shuddering yawn. "Another message for my worthless great-great-grandson?"

Harry could not speak. Phineas Nigellus did not know that Sirius was dead, but Harry could not tell him. To say it aloud would be to make it final, absolute, irretrievable.

A few more of the portraits had stirred now. Terror of being interrogated made Harry stride across the room and seize the doorknob.

It would not turn. He was shut in.

"I hope this means," said the corpulent, red-nosed wizard who hung on the wall behind the Headmasters desk, "that Dumbledore will soon be back among us?"

Harry turned. The wizard was surveying him with great interest. Harry nodded. He tugged again on the doorknob behind his back, but it remained immovable.

"Oh good," said the wizard. "It has been very dull without him, very dull indeed."

He settled himself on the throne-like chair on which he had been painted and smiled benignly upon Harry.

"Dumbledore thinks very highly of you, as I am sure you know," he said comfortably. "Oh yes. Holds you in great esteem."

The guilt filling the whole of Harry's chest like some monstrous, weighty parasite, now writhed and squirmed. Harry could not stand this, he could not stand being himself any more ... he had never felt more trapped inside his own head and body, never wished so intensely that he could be somebody, anybody else ...

The empty fireplace burst into emerald green flame, making Harry leap away from the door, staring at the man spinning inside the grate. As Dumbledore's tall form unfolded itself from the fire, the wizards and witches on the surrounding walls jerked awake, many of them giving cries of welcome.

"Thank you," said Dumbledore softly.

He did not look at Harry at first, but walked over to the perch beside the door and withdrew, from an inside pocket of his robes, the tiny, ugly, featherless Fawkes, whom he placed gently on the tray of soft ashes beneath the golden post where the full-grown Fawkes usually stood.

"Well, Harry," Dumbledore began but Harry interrupted.

"Professor, Tom's got Horcruxes. You need to let the order know."

"How? I have known and began searching but…"

Harry shuffled his feet before blurting, "I went through his memories, I didn't mean to, it just happened. He was in my head and suddenly I was in his and there were all these memory's and one of them mentioned Horcruxes and I wanted to know what they were and the memories showed me and-"

Dumbledore chuckled, holding up a hand to quiet him. "I'm not mad Harry, in fact I am impressed. Tell me what you know, please?" Harry explain from beginning to end the time he spent in Voldermorts mind, bar the memory containing his parents death. "There's something else, isn't there, Harry?"

Harry nodded but couldn't speak. Finally, he pointed at the Pensieve cupboard and, after Dumbledore had fetched the cupboard, placed the last memory in the Pensieve. While Dumbledore watched the memory, Harry just sat there, replaying Sirius hitting the veil and bleeding on the ground over and over again.

* * *

 **Right, so, this is as far as I am posting for now. I posted this here about 2 years but it wasn't to well received. So, if you want more, message me. I want at least 10 messages asking me to continue before I post the next chapter, which is already written up to chapter five. Also, I never decided whether to let Harry live or not, and very few people voted about it. So, your decision. This is also under the same name on Archive of our Own with no missing scenes, as there will be here.**  
 **Forgiving,**  
 **Out.**


	4. Chapter 2- The end of the beginning

Chapter 2- The end of the beginning

With a thump the snakes head rolled to the ground. With a roar Riddle fired the killing curse at Harry. With a smile Harry hit the ground, dead. The world stopped breathing. The battle paused to listen to the Dark Lords triumphant cackles.

Everyone wondered why Dumbledore did not take advantage of the Dark Lords distraction. Why he didn't kill the Dark Lord. Why he just stood and watched their fallen hero.

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He lay face down, listening to the silence. He was perfectly alone. Nobody was watching. Nobody else was there. He was not perfectly sure that he was there himself.

A long time later, or maybe no time at all, it came to him that he must exist, must be more than disembodied thought, because he was lying, definitely lying, on some surface. Therefore he had a sense of touch, and the thing against which he lay existed too.

Almost as soon as he had reached this conclusion, Harry became conscious that he was naked. Convinced as he was of his total solitude, this did not concern him, but it did intrigue him slightly. He wondered whether, as he could feel, he would be able to see. In opening them, he discovered that he had eyes.

He lay in a bright mist, though it was not like mist he had ever experienced before. His surroundings were not hidden by cloudy vapour; rather the cloudy vapour had not yet formed into surroundings. The floor on which he lay seemed to be white, neither warm nor cold, but simply there, a flat, blank something on which to be.

He sat up. His body appeared unscathed. He touched his face. He was not wearing glasses anymore.

Then a noise reached him through the unformed nothingness that surrounded him: the small soft thumping's of something that flapped, flailed, and struggled. It was a pitiful noise, yet also slightly indecent. He had the uncomfortable feeling that he was eavesdropping on something furtive, shameful.

For the first time, he wished he were clothed.

Barely had the wish formed in his head than robes appeared a short distance away. He took them and pulled them on. They were soft, clean, and warm. It was extraordinary how they had appeared just like that, the moment he had wanted them...

He stood up, looking around. Was he in some great Room of Requirement? The longer he looked, the more there was to see. A great domed glass roof glittered high above him in sunlight. Perhaps it was a palace. All was hushed and still, except for those odd thumping and whimpering noises coming from somewhere close by in the mist...

Harry turned slowly on the spot, and his surroundings seemed to invent themselves before his eyes. A wide-open space, bright and clean, a hall larger by far than the Great Hall, with that clear domed glass ceiling. It was quite empty. He was the only person there, except for ¨C He recoiled. He had spotted the thing that was making the noises. It had the form of a small, naked child, curled on the ground, its skin raw and rough, flayed-looking, and it lay shuddering under a seat where it had been left, unwanted, stuffed out of sight, struggling for breath.

He was afraid of it. Small and fragile and wounded though it was, he did not want to approach it. Nevertheless he drew slowly nearer, ready to jump back at any moment. Soon he stood near enough to touch it, yet he could not bring himself to do it. He felt like a coward. He ought to comfort it, but it repulsed him.

"You cannot help."

He spun around. A woman was walking toward him sprightly and upright, wearing sweeping robes of midnight blue.

She was Lily Potter. His mother.

"But you're dead," said Harry.

"Oh yes," she said matter-of-factly.

"Then... I'm dead too?"

"Ah," she said, smiling still more broadly. "That is the question, isn't it? On the whole, my son, I think not."

They looked at each other, Lily still smiling at her son.

"Not?" repeated Harry.

"Not," confirmed Lily.

"But..." Harry raised his hand instinctively toward the lightning scar. It did not seem to be there. "But I should have died! I didn't defend myself! I meant to let him kill me!"

"And that," said Lily, "will, I think, have made all the difference."

Happiness seemed to radiate from Lily like light; like fire: Harry had never seen some one so utterly, so palpably content.

"Explain," said Harry.

"But you already know," said Lily. She twiddled her thumbs together.

"I let him kill me," said Harry. "Didn't I?"

"You did," said Lily, nodding. "Go on!"

"So the part of his soul that was in me... has it gone?"

"Oh yes!" She said happily. "Yes, he destroyed it. Your soul is whole, and completely your own, Harry."

"But then..."

Harry trembled over his shoulder to where the small, maimed creature trembled under the chair.

"What is that?"

"That, Harry is the piece of soul that was encased in your scare. It is here because I need to take t with me when I leave," his mother explained.

"But if Riddle used the Killing Curse," Harry started again, "and nobody died for me this time how can I be alive?"

"I think you know," said Lily. "Think back. Remember what he did, in his ignorance, in his greed and his cruelty."

Harry thought. He let his gaze drift over his surroundings. If it was indeed a palace in which they sat, it was an odd one, with chairs set in little rows and bits of railing here and there, and still, he and his mother and the stunted creatures under the chair were the only beings there. Then the answer rose to his lips easily, without effort.

"He took my blood," said Harry.

"Precisely!" said Lily. "He took your blood and rebuilt his living body with it! Your blood in his veins, Harry, Lily's protection inside both of you! He tethered you to life while he lives!"

"I live... while he lives? But I thought... I thought it was the other way around! I thought we both had to die? Or is it the same thing? Explain... more," said Harry, and she smiled.

"You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make. He had rendered his soul so unstable that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of me and your father, the attempted killing of a child. But what escaped from that room was even less than he knew. He left more than his body behind. He left part of himself latched to you, the would-be victim who had survived."

And his knowledge remained woefully incomplete, Harry! That which Riddle does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend. Of house-elves and children's tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence, Riddle knows and understands nothing. Nothing. That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped."

He took your blood believing it would strengthen him. He took into his body a tiny part of the enchantment I laid upon you when I died for you. His body keeps my sacrifice alive, and while that enchantment survives, so do you and so does Riddle's one last hope for himself."

"I feel great at the moment, though," said Harry, looking down at his clean, unblemished hands. "Where are we, exactly?"

"Well, I was going to ask you that," said Lily, looking around. "Where would you say that we are?"

Until his mother had asked, Harry had not known. Now, however, he found that he had an answer ready to give.

"It looks," he said slowly, "like King's Cross station. Except a lot cleaner and empty, and there are no trains as far as I can see."

"King's Cross station!" Lily was chuckling immoderately. "Good gracious, really? It seems to have changed since my day!"

"Well, where do you think we are?" asked Harry, a little defensively.

"My dear boy, I have no idea. This is, as they say, your party."

Harry had no idea what this meant; his mother was acting like Dumbledore. He glared at her.

The creature behind them jerked and moaned, and Harry and his mother sat without talking for the longest time yet. The realization of what would happen next settled gradually over Harry in the long minutes, like softly falling snow.

"I've got to go back, haven't I?"

"That is up to you."

"I've got a choice?"

"Oh yes," Lily smiled at him. "We are in King's Cross you say? I think that if you decided not to go back, you would be able to... let's say... board a train."

"And where would it take me?"

"On," said Lily simply.

Silence again.

"If I go back I'll return in a few years anyway."

"I am sorry, Harry," Lily said, her smile disappearing. "I wish I could take that with me, make it so that you could live a happy life! I really do!"

"I understand, you could do no more than Albus can." He sighed. "You want me to go back?"

"If you choose to return, there is a chance that He may be finished for good. I cannot promise it. But I know this, Harry that you have less to fear from returning here than he does."

Harry glanced again at the raw looking thing that trembled and choked in the shadow beneath the distant chair.

"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love. By returning, you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed, fewer families are torn apart. If that seems to you a worthy goal, they we saw good-bye for the present." Harry nodded and sighed. Leaving this place would not be nearly as hard as walking into the forest had been, but it was warm and light and peaceful here, and he knew that he was heading back to pain and the fear of more loss. He stood up, and his mother did the same, and they looked for a long moment into each other's faces. Then he stepped forward and hugged her.

"Tell me one last thing," said Harry as he pulled away, "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"

Lily beamed at him, and her voice sounded loud and strong in Harry's ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"

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Harry awoke with a start. The first thing that registered was that he hurt. Everywhere. Then Riddle's insane cackling registered through the pain filled haze, followed by the magic that he recognised as Dumbledore's. He even recognised what type, a monitoring spell. He groaned as the cackling began to irate his already pounding head.

Riddle stopped cackling, frowning, when he heard a groan. He could have sworn that it-

"Harry, my boy, I knew it would work. Would you like a hand up?" Dumbledore said joyfully, walking towards where Harry lay.

"You son of a bitch, you knew I would survive, didn't you," Harry groaned, and continued muttering under his breath about stupid headmasters and how he was never going to get any peace after this. He took the offered hand and pulled himself to his feet, wincing as the pounding pain in his body increased. "Well, Tom," he started.

"Why won't you just die?!" Riddle interrupted. "How?! How dare you?! Why you-"

"Will you shut up, you sadistic bastard!" Harry shouted. He looked around, noticed that some of his friends were running towards him. "Protego!" roared Harry, and the Shield Charm expanded around him, Dumbledore and Riddle.

"I don't want anyone else to help," Harry said loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."

Riddle hissed.

"Potter doesn't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide. "This isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"

"Nobody," said Harry simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good..."

"One of us?" jeered Riddle, and his whole body was taut and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"

"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry. They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Harry no face existed but Riddle's. "Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"

"Accidents!" screamed Riddle, but still he did not strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if Petrified, and of the hundreds on the field, nobody seemed to breathe but they two. Even the last remaining Death Eaters, as few as they were, were still. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and snivelled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people."

"But you did not!"

"I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare," said Harry. "I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?"

Riddle did not speak, but prowled in a circle, and Harry knew that he kept him temporarily mesmerized at bay, held back by the faintest possibility that Harry might indeed know a final secret...

"Is it love again?" said Riddle, his snakes face jeering. "Dumbledore's favourite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like and old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?"

"Just one thing," said Harry, and still they circled each other, wrapped in each other, held apart by nothing but the last secret.

"If it is not love that will save you this time," said Voldemort, "you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"

"I believe both," said Harry, and he saw shock flit across the snakelike face, though it was instantly dispelled; Voldemort began to laugh, and the sound was more frightening than his screams; humourless and insane it echoed around the silent field.

"You think you know more magic than I do?" he said. "Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?"

"Oh he dreams of it," said Harry, "but he knows more than you, knows enough not to do what you've done."

"You mean he is weak!" screamed Voldemort. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"

"No, he is cleverer than you," said Harry, "a better wizard, a better man. A smarter one to, he out played you."

"What childish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Harry's.

"Severus Snape isn't yours," said Harry. "Snape is Dumbledore's. Dumbledore's from the moment you starting hunting down my mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?"

Voldemort did not answer. They continued to circle each other like wolves about to tear each other apart.

"Snape's Patronus is a doe," said Harry, "the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children. You should have realized," he said as he saw Voldemort's nostrils flare, "he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"

"He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort, "but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him."

"Of course he told you that," said Harry, "but he is Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since!"

"It matters not!" shrieked Voldemort, who had followed every word with rapt attention, but now let out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape is mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand!"

"Look behind you," and Voldemort whirled around. Standing there, just outside the shield, were Snape and Malfoy Jr. A brief flash of concern when he did not the elder blonde but lost in concentration when Voldemort faced him again, firing a curse that he countered.

A red-glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he too yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco's wand:

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead centre of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy's shell.

One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him, and the first to reach him were Ron and Hermione, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened him. Then Ginny, Neville, and Luna were there, and then all the Weasley's, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout, and Harry could not hear a word that anyone was shouting, not tell whose hands were seizing him, pulling him, trying to hug some part of him, hundreds of them pressing in, all of them determined to touch the Boy Who Lived, the reason it was over at last. Dumbledore watched all of this not even motioning to help him, chuckling merrily.

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The sun rose steadily over Hogwarts, and the Great Hall blazed with life and light. Harry was an indispensable part of the mingled outpourings of jubilation and mourning, of grief and celebration. They wanted him there with them, their leader and symbol, their savoir and their guide, and that he had not slept, that he craved the company of only a few of them, seemed to occur to no one. He must speak to the bereaved, clasp their hands, witness their tears, receive their thanks, hear the news now creeping in from every quarter as the morning drew on; that the Imperiused up and down the country had come back to themselves, that Death Eaters were fleeing or else being captured, that the innocent of Azkaban were being released at that very moment, and that Kingsley Shacklebolt had been named temporary Minister of Magic.

They moved Voldemort's body and laid it in a chamber off the Hall, away from the bodies of Arthur, Molly, Hagrid, Madame Hooch, Colin Creevey, and fifty others who had died fighting him. Dumbledore had replaced the House tables, but nobody was sitting according to House anymore: All were jumbled together, teachers and pupils, ghosts and parents, centaurs and house-elves, and Firenze lay recovering in the corner, and Grawp peered in through a smashed window, and people were throwing food into his laughing mouth. After a while, exhausted and drained, Harry found himself sitting on a bench beside Luna and Neville.

"I'd want some peace and quiet, if it were me," Neville said.

"I'd love some," he replied.

"Don't forget to visit the Nortam," Luna breezed, and Harry grinned and nodded.

"We'll distract them all," Neville said, looking at his girlfriend weirdly. "Use your cloak."

And before he could say a word, Luna had cried, "Oooh, look Neville, a Blibbering Humdinger!" and pointed out the window. Everyone who heard looked around, and Harry slid the Cloak up over himself, and got to his feet.

Now he could move through the Hall without interference. Along the aisle between the tables he walked, and he spotted Draco curled up into Tonks shoulder. Everywhere he looked, he saw families reunited, and finally, he saw the two whose company he craved most.

"It's me," he muttered, crouching down between them. "Will you come with me?"

They stood up at once, and together he, Ron and Hermione left the Great Hall. Great chunks were missing from the marble staircase, part of the balustrade gone, and rubble and bloodstains occurred ever few steps as their climbed.

Somewhere in the distance they could hear Peeves zooming through the corridors singing a victory song of his own composition:

We did it, we bashed them, wee Potter's the one,

And Voldy's gone mouldy, so now let's have fun!

"Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?" said Ron, pushing open a door to let Harry and Hermione through.

Happiness would come, Harry though, but at the moment it was muffled by exhaustion, and the pain of losing the Weasley parents and Hagrid pierced him like a physical wound every few steps. Most of all he felt the most stupendous relief, and a longing to sleep. But first he owed an explanation to Ron and Hermione, who had stuck with him for so long, and who deserved the truth.

Since he had last seen it, the gargoyle guarding the entrance to the headmaster's study had been knocked aside; it stood lopsided, looking a little punch-drunk, and Harry wondered whether it would be able to distinguish passwords anymore.

"Is he up there? Can we go up?" he asked the gargoyle.

"Yes and feel free," groaned the statue.

They clambered over him and onto the spiral stone staircase that moved slowly upward like an escalator. Harry pushed open the door at the top.

He had one, brief glimpse of the stone Pensieve on the desk and then an ear-splitting noise made him cry out, thinking of curses and returning Death Eaters and the rebirth of Voldemort.

But it was applause. All around the walls, the headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts were giving him a standing ovation; they waved their hats and in some cases their wigs, they reached through their frames to grip each other's hands; they danced up and down on their chairs in which they have been painted: Dilys Derwent sobbed unashamedly; Dexter Fortescue was waving his ear-trumpet; and Phineas Niggelus called, in his high, reedy voice, "And let it be noted that Slytherin House played its part! Let our contribution not be forgotten!"

"I do not think we will ever forget, Niggelus," Dumbledore said, from his seat smiling at them. "I wondered when you would escape. Would you like to explain or shall I?"

"Can you, I have orders from Luna I must follow first," Harry said with a mean full look. Dumbledore nodded and Harry, ignoring his friends inquiring looks, turned and left.

As he made his way to the hospital wing, not for the first time that Luna knew, even help, with his disease. He hadn't meant for her to know, hadn't meant for anyone other than the Order to know, but she had been in the hospital wing when he had gone for one of his monthly checkups. She was meant to have been asleep so Poppy had thought it safe to talk; she was the only other patent that day. Luna had not been asleep, however, she had woken some point during the visit, and concerned for her friend had listened.

She had recognised what Poppy was treating; her father's brother had had it, and had later confronted Harry. It was the first time he had seen Luna drop her crazy mask and he was only the third person she had trusted to do so. Neville being the first, Ginny the second, her father never counted. She had wanted to know when Harry was ever going to tell his friends and Harry's straight answer of never had stunned her until he explained why. Then she had understood and offered to help. Her condition had been that he eventually told Neville, she didn't like keeping secrets from him.

After that it had gotten easier to sneak away for a night every month for treatment, Luna always having an excuse for his friends on where he was. It made it easier to bear the fact that he was dying, having her and, now that the war was really over he could tell him, soon Neville.

The hospital wings doors were open, on hanging slightly off its hinges, when he arrived. Poppy was seeing to a seventh year Ravenclaw that Harry remembered helping him with his homework sometimes when Hermione was busy. Luke Nash, that was his name. Harry noticed that over in the bed opposite Charlie Weasley was giving him appreciative looks. His eyes caught Harry's and at Poppy's "I'll just finish Mr Nash, and then I'll deal with you, Harry," headed over to talk to him.

Charlie grinned at him as he sat on the end of the bed and swung his legs up alongside his. "Hey, how's your leg?" Harry asked, bending one leg to lean his head on.

Charlie winced. "Madame Pomfrey fixed it up pretty good but I won't be able to work with dragons any more. The nerves were damaged making its reaction time slower and that can mean certain death around dragons." He sighed and his eyes strayed back to Luke.

Harry grinned. "His names Luke Nash, he is a seventh year muggleborn Ravenclaw, planning to be experimental charms master, he's bisexual and currently single," he said, chuckling at Charlie's stunned look. "He used to help me with his homework in the library when Hermione was busy."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, big brother, you like him. You've been eyeing him up for months, I, unlike the rest of our oblivious siblings, am not blind. He also had a crush on you when he was in first year after you helped him find his class room on his second day," Charlie's eyes widened, "and has also been eyeing you up since we all came to stay in the castle." Harry burst out laughing at the look of surprise on his brother's face then winced.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked, seeing his winced.

"Nothing," he replied, "just a bit saw, you try being hit with a killing curse." None of the Weasley's knew about his disease, neither did Remus, Sirius, Snape or Tonks, the last because she was terrible at keeping secrets from the teens.

"Harry!" Poppy called. He hopped of the bed, avoided Charlie's hand as it went to mess up his, for once, tidy hair and followed Poppy into the private room that was already set up. "Sit. Stay still."

She waved her wand for a general diagnostic first, as she always did. "Humph! You have a twisted wrist and the signs of Dragon Fever coming on." Harry groaned, not again, he's already had it twice. It was called that because you became very hot and snappish, your skin became immune to all spells and Fever Reducers didn't work. It wasn't dangerous but it was annoying as you had to get over it naturally.

Poppy tapped her wand on his left wrist and the swelling immediately went down and the slight twinge of pain went away. She then cast the progress spell for Humor Viscerum and then hocked him up to the magical drainage system that would drain the fluid as much as it could. Poppy left to go and take care of her patents and Harry let himself drift off to sleep.

He was shaken awake what felt minutes later. Rubbed his eyes and put on his glasses, sitting up. He focused on Poppy and saw her face. "Just tell me, Poppy," he sighed.

"It's started to break down the natural magical shields around your heart," she whispered. Harry flopped back onto the bed and stared the ceiling. He hadn't expected it this soon even if he hadn't died in the Final Battle. He had expected a few more years yet time at least to live outside of the war before he died. Now he only had a year, maybe not even that, before he would die, for good this time.

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They told the rest of the Order later that evening at the last Order meeting as a war front. Tonks wasn't there, she had been given Mrs Weasley's job of watching the kids, Sirius and Remus where with the twins, helping to fix certain parts of Hogwarts and Snape was in the hospital wing, recovering from Nagini's snake bite. They spent most of the meeting trying to think of ways to cure Harry.

Harry told Neville, with the help of Luna, in the next few weeks and slowly he got used to the thought of dying again and just got on with the restoration of Hogwarts. Neville was devastated but understood as well as his girlfriend had why he didn't want anyone else to know.

Finally, three days before it was to open for the school year, Hogwarts was back to her former glory. They had also hired new teaches to take over the ones that died.

Charlie was going to replace Hagrid as COM teacher for a year until he found a new carrier he wanted to pursue and Bill would take over Arithmancy as the professor had been badly injured and decided to retire. Penelope Clearwater was taking muggle studies. Flying lessons would be taken Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell. Lea Brian, a 27 year old runes master, took over Ancient Runes.

The official list of the dead went out in all new papers. Rita Skeeter tried getting an interview with Harry but he turned her down flat. After Hermione threatened to out her Animagus form she retired. Everyone on the list received a medal, whether it be bronze or silver and their family's received 40 galleons each.

Lucius Malfoy was sent to Azkaban, as although he had become a spy to save his son, he still joined willingly and committed the three unforgivables. His son was placed under Dumbledore's guardianship and Severus Snape was untouchable being Dumbledore's spy almost from the start.


	5. Chapter 3- the start of a legacy

Chapter 3—the start of a legacy

 _Dark Lord And Death Eaters Eating Death_

 _Yesterday evening half of Hogwarts was engaged in an violent battle to defend their school. All students from sixth and fifth year participated in the Defence of Hogwarts, whether on the light side or not. It started when a spy for the headmaster came running into the great hall, something the stoic slytherin had never been seen to do._

 _He then informed the rest of the staff members that You—Know—Who had been secretly planning to invade Hogwarts with inside help. You—Know—Who was to attack with in the next hour. Dumbledore and Harry Potter, The—Boy—Who —Lived, took charge and assigned the fifth year student from all houses to keep all younger students within the common rooms and to defend them should it come to it._

 _With the younger students safely out of harm's way headmaster Dumbledore secured the castle and asked for its help in defence. Statues and suits of armour left their posts to stand in defensive positions outside one the front lawn, soon to be battle field. Dumbledore, with Harry Potter at his side, then took up the lead defence positions. Not long after the wards of Hogwarts feel and the battle begun._

 _It did come as a surprise that when I asked Headmaster Dumbledore how many Slytherin's fought for the light side he told me that over half of them had stood by their side to defend their school. Later, when I interviewed a few of these brave students, they told me that they would have been fighting as Death Eaters, whether they wished to or not, had it not been for our chosen one. They told me that Harry Potter had befriended them, and most of their parents, and had protected most from falling to You—Know—Who's clutches. Those who were marked had been so before he had acted._

 _Eventually Harry Potter engaged You—Know—Who in a one to one battle. So focused were they on their epic struggle that neither noticed that the Death Eaters were falling, either to death or unconsciousness. There came a stand still when He—Who—Must—Not—Be—Nameds familiar, a poison—diamond snake, entered the battle. Harry Potter beheaded the snake and then, for unspecified reasons, burn both its head and body with fiendfire._

 _This enraged You—Know—Who to point that he cast the killing curse at our savour and, again for reasons unspecified, he did not dodge but in fact seemed to step into the curse. Both side froze mid battle in shock of seeing Harry Potter die._

 _That is not the end however, minutes later the chosen one once again stood and this time finished his opponent off with a simple disarming curse. You—Know—Who's own killing curse hit himself as his wand was blasted from his hand. Once they had confirmed that he was indeed dead they began to gather the dead and treat the wounded._

 _Many died bravely last night and what follows is a list of those who did, both Death Eaters and Light fighters._

 _From the light side;_

 _Bathsheda Babbling_

 _Cho Chang_

 _Colin Creevey_

 _Amos Diggory_

 _Argos Filch_

 _Rolanda Hooch_

 _Ernie Macmilla_

 _Zacharias Smith_

 _Married couple Molly and Arthur Weasley_

 _The light lost many more but most are either still unnamed or to mutated to recognise as the fighters begin to collect and identify the dead. As uncaring as I expect you are for the Death Eaters I am sure you wish to know who ended their miserable lives._

 _Millicent Bulstrode, accidently killed by Hermione Granger and Geneva Weasley as they attempted to incapacitate her,_

 _The Carrow sibling defeated respectively by Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout,_

 _Vincent Crabbe Sr, killed in retaliation by Light spy Lucius Malfoy for wounding his son,_

 _Antonin Dolohov, defeated alongside the Carrow's by Filius Flitwick,_

 _Goyle Sr, defeated by Lucius Malfoy,_

 _Gregory Goyle, died from miscast fiendfire curse aim at Lucius Malfoy for killing his father,_

 _Fenrir Greyback, killed by Remus Lupin after he kills Colin Creevey and Arthur Weasley,_

 _Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black), killed by both Blaise Zabini and Molly Weasley after she injured Geneva Weasley,_

 _Rabastan Lestrange, defeated by Remus Lupin defending his brother,_

 _Rodolphus Lestrange, defeated by Arthur Weasley for killing his wife,_

 _Narcissa Malfoy (née Black), killed by Sirius Black as he tried to apprehend Peter Pettigrew to formally prove his innocence,_

 _Peter Pettigrew, was cornered by Sirius Black when the metal hand bestowed on him by He—Who—Must—Not—Be—Named after he gave his own for his master, turned on him and strangled him,_

 _Augustus Rookwood, killed by Padma Patil and Lavender Brown for killing their pregnant sister and friend, Parvati Patil,_

 _Pius Thicknesse, killed by the combined efforts of Kinsley Shacklebolt and Amelia Bones,_

 _Yaxley, killed by Tonks after wounding her fiancé Kinsley Shacklebolt._

 _All of those who did the world a service of ridding the world of these filth who still stand will receive awards of varying class. Congratulations in advance._

 _A formal list of the dead will be posted after all are known at the communal wake in October._

 _Written by Rita Skeeter._

Harry appeared with a soft crack. He looked around at the familiar street as he walk up the front path and couldn't help but shiver. Grimmauld place's neighbourhood had always creped him out even if he had spent a lot of time there in the past year. He didn't bother knocking; the door opened to magical signatures.

He stopped in shock in the door way, the door shutting behind him. "Did I walk in to the wrong house?" he asked himself. The walls had been painted a pleasant light blue colour and the threadbare carpet replaced with wooden boards. The old chandelier had been removed and now a beautiful light fixture with four animals carved in to the glass lit the hallway. The age blackened portraits had been removed and replaced with various members of the order, past and present. Mrs Black's portrait was gone and in its place was Moody's photograph of the old Order, enlarged to fit the frame.

The sound of laughter made him jump and he had his wand in hand and a curse on his lips before he even managed to register that he was no longer in danger. He lowered his wand and looked sheepish at his godfather.

Sirius chuckled at him, "Sorry, I forgot you don't like to be startled." Harry waved him off and transfigured his cloak into a jumper, as was his custom. "And no, you didn't walk into the wrong house, we've been busy while you were gone." Sirius scrutinized him. "Where have you been?"

"Godric's Hollow," Harry answered, walking towards the kitchen. Sirius grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a hug that Harry couldn't help but melt into.

"What have you been doing at Godric's Hollow?" he asked as Harry pulled away.

"I had it fixed up and new wards put up, Albus was helping me. he should be here in a few hours, he's dealing with one of Dennis Creevey's emotional fits." Dennis hadn't been the same since his brother died and often had major bouts of depression that, if left long enough to stew, would eventually lead to self-harm.

"Ah, you planning to move in there when you finish school?" Sirius asked as they paused in front of the kitchen door.

"Sort of," Harry replied and before Sirius could ask what he meant Harry opened the kitchen door and walked in.

"Harry!" Harry just had time to balance his weight before he had an arm full of brown and red haired witch.

"Ginny, Hermione," Harry said as he wiggled out of their grip. "Stop now or you boys will think there's something going on," he winked at them and everyone laughed as both girls and their admires blushed bright red. He smirked at Blaise and Ron then dodged a hug from Pansy, "Sorry Pansy, no hugs today, I bruised my ribs when I tried to enter the Hollow." He rubbed them and winced. It wasn't just his ribs that were saw he needed to see Poppy and get his meds.

"Oh, Harry, sit down, eat and I'm sure Severus will give you some ointment for it afterwards," Pansy, who Harry was sure was trying to take Mrs Wesley's place, pushed him gently into a chair and placed a full plate in front of him. They were surprised when Harry took one look at it and bolted from his chair.

Harry knew he really needed to see Poppy now. Nausea was a bad sign and when he actually threw up into the sink he knew that he needed his meds. He looked up from the sink and caught Moody's eye.

"She's going to kill you when she sees you," Moody informed him before moving to the floo. "Hogwarts hospital wing," he called into the flames. "Poppy, it's Harry-" he was obviously cut off as he stumbled out of the way and Poppy stepped through the flames.

She took one look at him and dragged him back through the fire. "Harry, what have I told you about skipping doses," Poppy snapped at him as she lead him to 'his' room in the hospital wing.

It was a strange shaped room, sort of like the shape of a house. Should you look at it from a bird eye view it would appear that the door was at the bottom of the shape. His bed was against the left side wall when you entered, along with a bedside table and a small book shelf for if Harry was there for more than a few hours. A desk sat facing the wall on the same side of the room where it started to slant. It wasn't that big, only about three metres horizontal and seven length ways. It was about head height for Hagrid.

"I didn't Poppy, Albus made sure I didn't. The only dose I haven't had is todays and that's only because I need to get the next set from you," Harry explained.

Poppy humphed and cast the usual charms. "How are the repairs coming along?" she asked as they waited. "I know it's where you wanted to…"

"Yeah, I wanted to end it where it started," Harry said softly. "And we're almost done, Albus had some of the house-elf's help, the only place we haven't done is the room where…" Harry trailed as Poppy nodded her head understandingly. They talked with each other for the next half an hour while they waited for the results.

When they appeared Poppy looked through them, looking grim. She sighed and looked down at Harry. "Harry, you can't go back to Grimmuald. It seems you body has been relying on the school wards and sentient magic to keep your medication working. As you haven't really left since your fifth year, I should have expected it."

"So no family Christmas for me," Harry said.

"And Harry, because of it, the disease is speeding up in killing you. I'd say you just lost about two months if you don't leave the wards for more than 12 hours."

"What shall I tell the others, Poppy?" Moody's voice made them both jump and both had their wands trained on him in seconds. "I only got here a few minutes ago," he told them. "So, what shall I tell them?"

"Tell them I've got a contagious muggle illness that should go away by the end of the holidays and that Poppy is keeping me in for observation," Harry suggested. Moody grunted. "I suppose I better make myself comfortable then," Harry sighed.

Poppy chuckled. "I'm going to call this room the Potter ward room," she told him seriously, "You practically live in here." Harry shook his head at her and decided to catch up on his sleep. "Oh, and Moody, tell kingsley and Dora congratulations," he murmured as he fell asleep.

"The boy seems to have picked up a muggle illness," Moody said the moment he had exited the floo. "He's contagious and Poppy wants to keep him in for observation in case she has someone else with the same illness. It won't be out of his system till a few days after the holidays." He sat down and ignored the load complaints from the children (he included Sirius in that category).

"Be quite, there is nothing we can do," Hestia Jones snapped. She, and the rest of the order who knew, looked worried. "Why don't we go upstairs and sort out that library, make sure all the Dark books gone before tomorrow," Luna suggested when they went to argue. Sirius frowned, sensing he wasn't being told something.

"Sirius, Remus, Severus, Nymphadora, will you please go and supervise," McGonagall ordered, they all obeyed. The moment the door had closed, Kinsley set up all their normal wards and more to keep them from spying.

"How is he?" Filius asked softly.

"He now can't leave Hogwarts. His body and magic are relying on the magic and wards of the school. Poppy thinks that his body is trying to use the excess magic to cure itself of the disease. Of course it's not working but by leaving he just… well he just lost another 2 months of his life," Moody said sadly, nearly whispering the last part

"When?" someone asked.

"He originally had until January," Everyone froze, "Not this January. Next January. But now he's expected to be around October/November." McGonagall sobbed and Kingsley tried to comfort her; Hestia and Emmeline both hugged each other as they silently cried.

"Does he plan on telling the other's soon?" McKenzie Macintosh, one of the newer member's of the order asked.

"He planned on telling Nymphadora this holiday. He doesn't plan on telling the others until he gets too weak to go to class," Albus said as he stepped out of the fireplace. "What's going on?" Moody quickly filled him in and Albus's smile disappeared.

"Oh," Moody said as he remembered, "Harry said to congratulate Kingsley and Nymphadora." He shrugged at the rest's confused gazes.

"I don't know how he does it," Kingsley muttered as he stood. He removed the wards from the door and yelled for his fiancé. There was a crack and Tonks Apparated into the kitchen.

"What's up, secret meeting over now?" she asked.

"Harry sent his congratulations," Kingsley said with a roll of his eyes. Tonks laughed. "Do you want to tell them, Nym?" Tonks nodded with a bright smile.

"I'm pregnant," she told them, "I don't know how he knew but," she shrugged. A mixture of happy exclamations followed. "So do I get to know what the secret meetings are for?" everyone shifted.

"Harry was going to tell her anyway," Moody grunted. They gently explained everything and by the time they had finished she was sobbing heavily into Kingsley's shirt and had to be given a calming draught.

Suddenly the fire flared green and, to everyone's shock, Harry stepped out. Everyone pointed their wands at him but he said calmly, "My Patronus is a stag, my mother's middle name was Flora and I am currently dying of Humour Visairoma." They all lowered their wands. "Poppy let me come for a few hours; I can stay away for about 12. I really can't stand looking at nothing but white for the next few days." Everyone but Tonks laughed. She threw herself into his arms and began to sob again. "What's the matter pretty nymph?"

"You're dying! It's not fair after you went through all that only to die in the end," she wailed.

"Dora, we all die in the end," he said gently, "Now calm down, your harm the baby."

"That's another thing, how did you know we only found out yesterday," Tonks said angrily.

Harry chuckled. "I looked on the Black tapestry last week; I was waiting for you to find out." Tonks stomped her foot angrily but Harry just pecked her on the cheek, undid the wards around the room and walked up the stairs. "I'm just getting a few things," he called over his shoulder.

"That boy," Albus said, laughing.

"Harry I thought…" Harry put up his hands to keep them away.

"I'm still ill and contagious but Madame P let me come and get some stuff," He grinned mischievously. "Don't happen to have any paint lying around do you?" he asked Sirius, who snapped out of staring at Remus to look at him.

"I think we've got some of every colour, we did each room a different colour," he said in bemusement. Harry's grin became wider. He held out his wand and wordlessly summoned all the paint in the house. He shrunk it all and placed it in the rucksack he had over one shoulder.

"I'll get my presents after I come out of quarantine," he said over his should, he couldn't take much more of the tension in that room. As he reached the bottom of the stairs Sirius yelled, "What are you going to do with that paint?!" Harry didn't answer just walked into the kitchen and to the fire place, "Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and blah, blah, blah," He said as he stepped into the flames.

"Morning Ha—ah! What have you done?" Poppy shouted as she came in with his breakfast the next morning. She stared in shock at her previously white room. It was now a neutral blue colour as a back drop, with a different mural done on each wall.

One of the walls, the one that held the door, showed Harry fighting Quirrell in front of the Mirror of Erised, his parents shown in the mirror. The one opposite the door showed two murals, Harry on his broom during the match in second year, being followed then hit by the bludger and Lockhart trying to heal him and him fighting the basilisk and destroying the diary. The wall that his bed sat against also held two pictures, the dementors causing him to fall off his broom and then attacking him and Sirius at the lake and him casting his Patronus on the other side of the lake. On the opposite wall were several pictures, four around the edges and the main one in the centre. Each of the ones around the edge was a task from the tournament and the Yule ball with the middle picture him duelling Voldemort in the graveyard, Priori Incantatem included. The last wall, the one that held the desk, was of the night of the night of the ministry, including the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort. The ceiling and floor were both still white but Poppy had a feeling they wouldn't be by the end of Harry's stay. All of them were wizarding pictures.

"You said that this room was going to be named after me, so I decided to decorate," Harry said grinning. Poppy looked ready to scream at him but then she just shook her head, smiling tightly, handed him his breakfast and left. "Well that was weird," he said to the air as he sat back down on his bed. He looked at his breakfast and, as a habit, cast all the spells that Moody had taught him to check his food. When they all came back negative he dug in.

When finished he tapped his wand to the plate and it disappeared to the kitchens. He turned back to the mass of paper on his pillow and pulled his most recent plan towards him.

Plan to set all my friends/family up with partners

First step is to check that my observations are right. I don't want to hurt someone by setting them up with someone who doesn't like them

Charmed parchment to, once touched by a person, tell that persons love interest and whether single. School owls are delivering as we speak and Kreacher has agreed to collect them and bring them to me.

Second step, make plan for each couple.

Ron & Hermione

Spike them with an aphrodisiac and let them do the rest.

Ginny & Blaise

Talk one of the teachers into giving both detentions with Filch. Use blackmail on Filch to make them clean on of the spare bedrooms. Lock them inside with Winky to look after them. Spell the door so that they can only come out when the have at least kissed.

Pansy & Terry

Use flowers as messages, both know fluorography.

Severus & Draco

Invest in peeves help. Have him move their things to each other's rooms after they have been soaked in a skin contact truth serum. Make sure it is legal. Then lock them in a room together and let them do the rest.

Remus & Sirius

Use potion that enhances natural emotions. Evaporate it so that it cannot be traced. Lock room and make sure Kreacher knows not to let them out.

Harry thought it was pretty good so far. He glanced at the pieces of parchment that Kreacher had dropped off yesterday and read through the two that interested him the most.

Fredrick Fabien Weasley- currently in a soul bond with George Gideon Weasley and in love with their chosen third, Harry James Potter.

George Gideon Weasley- currently in a soul bond with Fredrick Fabien Weasley and in love with their chosen third, Harry James Potter.

Well, that was interesting.

Harry watched from the hospital wings window as the rest of Hogwarts population milled about on the platform, heading for the carriages. Poppy had informed him he couldn't go to the feast and that he had to wait two days before he could see his friends to keep up the story of him being ill.

He stood when the last carriage pulled out of site and walked back into his room. He'd finally painted the floor with the scene of the last battle and the ceiling with the scene of the DA session where they had been working on Patronuses. He spent a lot of time watching that scene, he was starting to get weaker and weaker and his medication was at its highest dose.

Harry, knowing that time was short, had already invested in Peeves help to bring all of Draco's cloths to him during the feast. He then had nearly headless nick spread a rumour that Peeves was planning a prank on all the Slytherin's, something about dung bombs in their common room. He had, however, given instructions that the rumour was not to reach either of his targets ears.

When Nick had questioned him, he had told the ghost the truth but told him that he couldn't tell anyone else.

All he had to do now was wait.

Peeves floated through the wall of the Slytherin common room and up to the seventh year's dorm. He picked up the suitcase of his intended target and zoomed up to the hospital wing. "Oh, Potter," he called as he entered. Harry stuck his head out of the door of his room and Peeves flew in and dropped the trunk on his bed. "I'll be back to place them in an hour," Peeves told him, then flew down, grabbed Harry's glasses and swooped out of the room.

Harry only rolled his eyes and cast a temporary vision correction spell so he could see. He opened the trunk and pulled the potion and brush towards him. He pulled out all of the solid objects and brushed the truth serum over them. He then placed them back after waiting for them to dry and pulled out the clothes. He soaked them in the potion then cast a drying charm to quickly dry them out. He placed them back in the exact position he found them and closed the lid again. He poured the rest of the potion over the suitcase and used a cloth to spread it all over the surface.

"Oh, Potter, you plotter, oh what will you do? You're matching up students, it's all in good fun," Peeves voice floated from behind him and Harry laughed.

"Peeve's, will you take this to Professor Snapes rooms?" Harry asked as he turned around. Peeves swooped down and grabbed the handle. "Thanks, and yes I'll provide you with the dung bombs you need to do the Slytherin common room tomorrow." Peeves gave a wicked grin and flew from the room.

Harry sighed, "I hope this works."

Draco walked into his dorm room, wondering why none of his house mates were around. He stopped in the door way when he noticed his trunk was missing. "Blaise," he growled. They may be best friends but sometimes Blaise's pranks went too far. He huffed and stomped of to see if Severus would let him borrow something until Blaise saw fit to return them.

He knocked on the tapestry concealed door. "Come in." Draco pulled the tapestry to one side and opened the door. Severus stood scowling at something on his sofa. "What it is?" Draco asked as he moved in to the room. He froze in confusion the blurted, "Why do you have my trunk?"

Severus turned to him. "I don't know why or that it was even yours," he said. "What did you want, Draco?"

"To ask if I could borrow something to wear," Draco said slightly bemused. "I thought that Blaise had moved my stuff," he said to Severus's inquiring look.

"Hmm, well," Severus mumbled, "Mr Zabini does not know where my quarters are so it could not have been him. Now, would you like me to help you carry your things back your dorm?" Draco nodded and Severus levitated his trunk out into the corridor. They both followed in its wake.

"So, what's it like to finally be free?" Draco asked as they walked.

"I don't really know," he replied hesitantly. "I haven't had a chance to really live my freedom yet. How is Lucius?"

"Father is…understanding. He does want to get out but without the dementors there, it's just boredom that's driving him insane," Draco chuckled. "He does miss everyone, though. I'm not even allowed to visit." Draco pouted slightly and didn't see a small flush appear on his companions cheeks. They drew nearer the common room and the levitation spell dropped as they passed the magic dampener. Severus reached forward to take the trunk but Draco beat him to it. He lifted it, struggling through the common room entrance and up the stairs. "Draco, you should let…"

"It's alright, I can do it from here," Draco replied, blushing.

It was such an unusual sight to see any Malfoy, let alone Draco, blush that he had to ask, "Why are you blushing?"

Draco didn't even seem to think before he said, "There's something in my dorm I don't want you to see." He slapped his hand to his mouth. Severus's eyes narrowed.

"What don't you want me to see?"

"My drawings," Draco mumbled behind his hand. His eyes widened and he squeaked in embarrassment turning and starting up the stair before the next-

"What's in those drawings that you don't want me to see?"

Draco gasped and spun around, standing like a rabbit caught in the headlights as he answered, "They're pictures of you."

Severus smirked. "And?"

Miserably Draco whispered, "There what I imagine you look like naked."

Severus's eyes narrowed, "Bring them to me." Draco shook his head frantically as he backed up the stairs, Severus following him. He backed Draco against the wall and leaned down slightly, they were nearly the same height now, and whispered in his ear, "Why have you drawn pictures of what you think I look like naked?"

Draco shuddered and whimpered slightly. "I'm in love with you."

"Good," he whispered before he kissed the younger man. It was gentle but needy, passionate but tender all at once. But most of all it was loving. Draco wrapped his arms around Severus's neck as he wrapped his own around Draco's waist. There was no tongue involved but it still sent zaps of pleasure through both men.

The pulled away slowly, letting the kiss wind down naturally. Severus placed his head on top of Draco's as they both caught their breath. "Wow," gasped Draco as he rested his head on the taller man's chest. Severus made a sound of agreement before pulling away.

He began to walk down the stairs calling over his shoulder, "You shall be taking up residence with me, I like to keep my partners close." Draco ran down the stairs and found his soon-to-be-lover with his trunk already making his way out of the common room. The moment they stepped outside the magic dampening wards Severus levitated the trunk to follow behind them.

"Where do you think the rest the house is?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea," Severus said and Draco could hear the suspicion in his voice. Severus stopped short and turned to Draco, suddenly serious. "Draco, I need to know if you're okay with this? That I'm not moving too fast for you?"

Almost immediately Draco answered, "I really want this, Sev. You're not moving too fast."

His eyes narrowed before he shouted. "Someone's gave me a truth potion!" Severus sighed as they began walking again and Draco continued to mutter angrily. He unlocked his rooms and then pulled Draco into his lap.

"It doesn't matter," he told his younger partner. "I am the only on here and I hope you can trust me with whatever you say."

"I do," Draco murmured, wiggling in Severus's lap to make himself more comfortable. Severus moaned and his hands flew to grip Draco's hips. Said man smirked and moved his hips again, leaning forward to whisper in his lovers ear. "Do you like that? Do you want me to keep going? Or shall I stop?"

Severus moaned again and stood, Draco automatically wrapped his legs around the taller man. Severus stumbled into his bedroom and lowered Draco to the bed. He pulled the older ma with him and his head closer so they could kiss. Unlike their first it was passionate and filled with urgency.

Severus nipped at his lovers lips and groaned when his mouth opened, slipping his tongue into the others mouth. "Draco, are you sure you want to do this?" he asked as he pulled away briefly.

"Yes, now please, please, don't stop," Draco moaned, thrusting his hips up.

"Whoever gave you that potion, we owe them the rest of our lives," Severus murmured as he pulled Draco t-shirt over his head and bent to suck a nipple into his mouth. Draco moaned his agreement and that was all either said for a while.

"Oh, Rotter," Peeves called later that night, stirring Harry from his sleep.

"What do you want Peeve's?" he mumbled as he stretched and sat.

"Your little plan worked by the lovely noises coming from the bedroom," Peeves singsonged, lifting up a recording device that Harry had unwillingly given him last year to spy on the Slytherin's.

"And you have enough blackmail on the potions professor to last a life time, couldn't this have waited till morning," he whined. Peeves only cackled and zoomed from the room making Harry groan and snuggle back into the quilt. He coughed lightly and leaned over the side of the bed to spit the mucus into the bucket he kept by his bed.

Then he turned over and reached for his wand, casting a summoning charm on a separate recorder that seemed to appear from thin air. He cackle lightly, Peeves wasn't the only one to have blackmail material only his was to be pay back for the four and a half year of torture from the two on the tape. He place it in his draw before snuggling back into the blankets.

He was far too tired to think much more.


	6. Chapter 4- Secrets and Suduction

Chapter 4- Secrets and Seduction

The first thing Harry heard when he walked into the great hall on the first Thursday after the Christmas holidays was Hermione shouting "Harry!" She then ran up the isle and launched herself into his arms. "We missed you! Christmas isn't the same without you and you've still got all your presents to open! And the twins decided to come live here, they said that they wanted to be close to they're family and—"

"Breath, Hermione," Harry told her, cutting of her nervous and happy babble. "I know the twins are back in the castle, P —Madam Pomfrey told me. And I'm sure we can arrange for everyone to stop back at Grimmauld this weekend so that I can receive and open my gifts."

Hermione grinned then blushed slightly as Ron came up behind her. She let go of Harry and stepped back as if burned. Harry tried, he really did but he could not help chuckling at them. Ron was looking slightly jealous as he said "Harry, mate, you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm only allowed liquids for a few days though, to give my throat a chance to heal from all that throwing up," Harry pulled a face and Ron laughed. Hermione dragged them both back over to the Gryffindor table and practically force fed Harry some Tomato soup. "Hermione, I'm full," he finally complained when she tried to give him a fourth helping.

"Hermione, you're acting like mum," Ginny said, tearing her eyes away from the Slytherin table. "Leave him alone." Hermione looked slightly appalled at being compared to the Weasley mother and stopped trying to get Harry to eat more. "So, Harry," Ginny said turning to him. "What did you use the paint for?"

Harry grinned, "I'll show you all later," he said.

"Harry James Potter!" Harry ducked under the table as Poppy stormed into the hall. "Get out from under that table and remove that sticking charm from your room this instant!" Harry crawled up the table while she ranted, avoiding touching anyone. "I said, come out of there!" Harry did as she said, only at the end of the table near the door and ran for it before anyone noticed.

"See you later, guys," he called over his shoulder as he ran out the door, making everyone turn to him. They gaped for a few seconds before everyone, even Poppy, laughed. Harry was already up on the first floor, so didn't hear it. He felt his chest tighten and stopped to catch his breath. He had a feeling that he would have to give up quiddich soon and was not happy about it.

"Harry!" He turned round and came face to face with Fred and George. "Didn't die then?" Fred asked.

Harry suppressed a wince and answered, "Nah, if I died I wouldn't get to see your pretty faces again."

"Oh, we are not pretty," George said, hands on hips pretending to be mad.

"Devilishly handsome, maybe, but we are not female," Fred sniffed, mimicking his twin.

"Beautiful then," Harry grinned. The twins pounced one him and began to tickle him.

"We'll teach you," they said together as Harry gasped for breath.

"Ok, ok, your handsome, please stop," Harry gasped as he felt his chest tighten to dangerous proportion. The moment they let go he curled up on the floor then straightened to lie on his back, knowing it was dangerous to constrict the chest when you couldn't breathe. He ignored the twins worried inquires and concentrated on remembering how to breath, concentrated on life. Finally, he could breathe again, let the air into his lungs, had dislodged the horrid mucus from his lungs. And now he needed to spit.

He stood and shot down the hallway, to the bathroom he knew was there. He spat the disgusting fluid into the sink and washed his mouth out, to rid himself of the taste. He looked at the mirror and wondered how anyone could think that he was alright when he was a yellowish pale, with blood shot eyes looking as if he had not slept for days even though he had only been awake a few hours. He didn't feel like had had slept at all.

"Harry, should you go back to the hospital wing?" Fred's voice made him jump and he looked over his shoulder in the mirror to see both men standing a watching in the doorway.

"No," he told them, "I'm fine, just over eaten; Hermione was practically force feeding me lunch." They didn't look like they believed him but they didn't force him as the rest of his friends would. He thought that they understood him better than most. "Anyway, what was it you wanted?" he dried his face and walked towards them.

"Are the rumours true?" George asked.

"What rumours?" Harry asked, the little worry that someone would find out, that someone would discover he was dying and tell the rest of the school. The worry that all he would get was pity, as he had from the adults. "I've been in the hospital wing; you're going to have to update me on the latest gossip."

"This rumour started in October, Ginny told us about it," Fred said. Harry mentally ran through all of the rumours that had started about him in October and realise it was the one about him being gay. Kieki Chang, Cho's little sister had started it in revenge for breaking her sisters heart. It hadn't bothered him, if only because it was true.

"I guess you'll have to find out," Harry said grinning.

 **Edited for Fanfiction, to see full content go to archive of our own under the same pen name.**

He didn't feel the twins slowly lower him to the floor and rest his head in Fred lap. He didn't feel the cleaning spell remove the evidence of his pleasure. And he didn't see the happy, smug faces of the twins. All he saw was blackness.

"I think the rumours true," Fred murmured happily. He hadn't felt this complete since before his and Georges hormones kicked in and they began to feel the Pull of finding someone else to join their bond.

They'd never intentionally chosen Harry, in fact they hadn't even realised they had until he had faced the dragon and felt the jealousy of seeing him asking out the Chang girl for the ball. They didn't even know how it happened; only that it had. They had been feeling the Pull stronger this year and that was the main reason they had returned to Hogwarts. They had heard a rumour about how Harry Potter was gay from Lee Jordan, who's little sister had started this year and had needed to confirm it, needed to know if they had a chance with their Chosen. So to have him here, in their arms having just kissed him unconscious, was bliss.

 **Not sure if this next bit is too much for Fanfiction, someone tell me if it is and I will work on editing it.**

When he began to stir, he moved his head from side to side, making Fred have to bite his lip to stop from groaning. His head was rubbing his aching cock and even through his trousers it felt good. George, seeing his brother's predicament, decided to rouse him up further and leaned over for a steamy kiss.

That was what Harry woke up to and he couldn't help but watch in fascination as they passionately kissed each other. He moaned quietly when he saw a flash of tongue and felt Fred and George chuckle. The pulled away from each other and looked down at him. "Do you like that?" Fred bent down near his ear and whispered.

"Do you like watching us kiss?" George joined in the torment, making Harry light headed again.

"Do you want to see more?"

"See us kiss,"

"See us sucking each other,"

"See us 'playing together,"

"See us fucking each other," the finished together and Harry moaned.

"You are a true submissive, aren't you?" George asked. Harry stiffened slightly, the last person he had told what he was had wanted to use him. He hadn't let her but that did not mean he was not afraid of having someone who he couldn't stop. "We would never hurt you, Harry, never could. It is the nature of bond me and Fred have, the bond that we hope you will join one day."

"But until then, we have given you something to think about," Fred said standing and forcing Harry to sit up. George joined his twin and they smirked down at Harry's dazed expression. They both bent down to kiss his cheek. "We will see you later, Our Chosen," Fred murmured as he stood, George echoing him. They both turned and began to walk away, trying to ignore the small whine that rose from their Chosen's throat.

Harry watched them go, whining for them to return, to make him feel good again, to make him feel loved. But they didn't, they didn't even turn to look at him. Slowly, his awareness returned, long after the twins had left. But he was not happy, as he had thought he would be. No he felt as if his heart had just been ripped out of his chest. He never thought the twins would be that cruel. Slowly he stood and moved, walking on autopilot towards the ROR. Anyone who saw him would later say he looked like a living ghost, he was so pale.

He didn't even notice when he arrived at the room. He didn't even notice what he had requested of the room until he sunk into a large armchair, big enough for Hagrid to sit in. He curled up and looked around. It looked like his death room, as he had called the place, at Godric's Hollow. Above him, in the centre of the ceiling, was the Hogwarts crest. Each of the four walls were painted light shades of the Hogwarts house colours, with their animal reprehensive painted in the second house colours in the centre. A large bed sat in one corner and several chairs were scattered around the room, just as they were at Godric's Hollow.

His gaze came to rest on something that wasn't at the Hollow. A small curved knife sat on a table in front of him, glinting invitingly. He shook his head and look away from it, instead looking up and staring at the Hogwarts logo.

He never thought that the twins would play him. He was sure that they wouldn't. The potion had said that they were in love with him and so did the way that they spoke. So why had they kissed him, brought him to his first climax and then left with just a goodbye, leaving him in an aroused and dangerously submissive state.

It hurt, it felt like he was back with his aunt and uncle again. When they had found out he was ill, they hadn't cared. Sure, they gave him his medication, most of the time anyway, and took him to hospital for treatment but Harry could just tell they were waiting, hoping he would drop dead. When he had returned for the last of his stuff at the end of fifth year, he had found that the Dursleys had binned most of it and Dudley's friend, Piers, was now sleeping in their as his family had gone away for the summer. It had hurt, even though Harry should have expected it, that they had cared so little.

He shook thoughts of his 'family' away and concentrated on figuring out the twins. He hadn't actually expect them to make a move, hadn't wanted them to until they did. He had been content to leave things as they were, friends, so that he wouldn't hurt them more when he died. Now he was torn. If the twins weren't playing with him and just using him for the bond to feel complete, then he wanted to see where this would go. On the other hand, he didn't want to hurt them and he definitely couldn't complete the bond with them, they would most probably become as ill as him after he died and follow him to 'the next big adventure' as Albus put it.

He needed to think. He looked down again saw that the knife had disappeared. In its place now stood Dumbledore's Pensieve and Harry briefly wondered how the castle had got it. But that thought was pushed to the back of his mind, first he needed to figure out this mess, and then he could wonder about the secrets of Hogwarts.

He started placing memories of the twins inside, any memory he had that included the twins. Once done, in he plunged.

He started with first year:

 _Meeting the twins on the platform, how they quickly got over his fame._

 _One of the twins (George) helping him with his potions homework while Ron and Hermione at lunch._

 _Fred helping him correct the wand movement to a transfiguration spell._

 _Them both visiting him after his battle with Quirral, bringing with them a second toilet seat signed by the whole quidditch team._

Next second year:

 _Even though Ron dropped it, Fred and George kept trying to tell their parents how they found Harry._

 _Harry didn't know how to use the lock on the bathroom door and Fred had walked in, walked straight back out and returned with a couple of potions that he told him were scar removers._

 _George giving him Fred and his essays on the subjects that Harry had summer homework on and promising to do so every year._

 _Fred and George leaving him chocolate's, unlaced, when Lockhart vanished the bones in his arm. Ron telling him they have never done so with anyone else, even their siblings._

 _While the rest of the Weasley's comforted Ginny and Ron, Fred and George broke away to give him a hug, not to say thank you, they said, but because he needed one._

 _Fred and George coming in to the common room angry and unset, telling Harry that they tried to get Dumbledore to not send him back to his 'family' but he had refused, telling them that if he didn't leave there he would be a Ministry Ward and he would end up with Death Eaters._

 _Later, at the Dursley's, Harry finds a strange tin in his trunk and opens it to find a note and some food. Fred and George have an identical one that they can put food in and it appears in Harry's._

Third year, when for Harry, it all started:

 _The twins dragging him into their room and asking him to repeat his story, Harry blushing at how close they are having to sit on the single bed._

 _Catching Fred giving him a quick once over with his eyes when he stretches to put his trunk on the rack._

 _George carrying him up to bed when they find him asleep over his punishment potions homework, reading through it and realising it is actually fourth year material._

 _Fred and George grinning happily when they tell Harry the next day that he doesn't have to do the essay the next morning, telling him they went to Dumbledore._

 _Them giving him the map and how happy he feels until he realises their doing it out of pity._

 _Fred finding him crying and Harry having to tell him that Sirius was his godfather. Fred understanding without being told what has really upset him and telling him that his family does want him, he has the Weasley's. Rocking him until he fell asleep, Harry realising the next morning that the twins only see him as a brother and crying over that instead._

 _Fred and George asking him to describe the look on Draco's face when he had thrown the mud at his face, all three of them falling into hysterics._

 _Fred and George getting Hermione to lay off him, explaining that Harry isn't taking sides._

 _Fred and George listening and believing him about Sirius being innocent and how they helped him escape._

 _The twins hug lingering longer than normal when saying goodbye to the Weasley's on the Platform._

Forth year:

 _The twins jokingly suggesting they push the beds together and top and tail instead of sleeping on the floor when Ron decides to sleep on the sofa on night and how Harry had blushed as he hid his face in his pillow._

 _The twins not speaking to him after his name comes out of the cup and how much that hurts._

 _The first and last time he cut himself after the twins find him in the common room, how they tell him they are sorry as they realise that no will talk to him other the Hermione who is busy balancing he subjects and Ron and him. How Fred cleans the cuts while George fetches a bandage and they both tenderly wrap his wrists, on each. Make him promise to never do it again and he actually means it when he does._

 _The twins crowding him when he comes out of the stadium after facing the dragon, checking him over and how Harry had had to push them away when it made him hard. They had pulled him back and just hugged him, telling him how scared they had been for him._

 _The beautiful bird stand the twins bought him for Christmas and how Harry had tried to give it back, realising it must have cost them a lot of money. The twins had telling him that it was already charmed to Hedwig, and Hedwig only._

 _Hearing the twins together in the Prefects bathroom the first time he goes to visit but ends up sitting on the floor in tears when he realises he defiantly has no chance with them now even while he is so hard._

 _Confessing to the twins, just days before the second task, that he can't swim and is so afraid he is going to drown if they ever find a solution. They take him back to the Prefects bathroom and make the pool deeper so they teach him the basics._ Harry pauses noticing that the twins are half hard, something he didn't notice at the time and they keep exchanging looks.

After that, Harry can't help noticing that every time they are with him, even just around him, they never take their eyes off him, always concerned for him. He is so confused as he returns to his armchair, dozing off with his head fall of confusion.


	7. Chapter 5- Avoidance and Giving

Chapter five- Avoidance and Giving

Harry finally emerged for dinner, knowing he would worry his friends is he stayed away any longer. He used his invisibility cloak to get to the entrance hall then slipped into a cupboard to put it away.

He walked in and sat down next to Ginny, who didn't notice at first as she was, once again, starring at the Slytherin table. When she did, she noticed that he looked a bit pale but was distracted by Ron and Hermione sitting down opposite them, bickering about Ron's study habits.

"Honestly, Ron," Hermione said, "I really think you should give up Quidditch, you're having enough trouble keeping up with your homework now, imagine what it will be like when we need to revise on top of that."

"But Hermione," Ron whined. "If I quit, then the team will need to find a new keeper and they don't have time to train another one. Besides, I'd rather fly than study." Ron began to fill his plate while Hermione seemed to being trying to control her temper.

"Ron!" Hermione yelled when it didn't work. "You want to be an Auror. To get into the training program you need five Newt's in-"

"Hermione, they've already offered me a place as long as I get an Exceeds Expectations in DADA and Potions," Ron said. Hermione stared at him. "What?"

"When did this happen?" Ginny asked, joining in the conversation. The pair looked jumped and looked over as if only just realising where they were.

"Oh, during the Christmas holidays. Kingsley told me when we arrived."

"See, you still need to study," Hermione said. "You need to get your grade up in potions, at the moment you're at Acceptable. And I think you should still the quit the team, you may not complete the Auror course, only about ten percent do you know, so you need other options."

"What about Harry, why are you only picking on me?" Ron whined.

His distraction worked and Hermione turned to Harry. "There's no need to shout at me, I've already handed in my resignation and captains badge. Either Ginny or you should be receiving it any day now," Harry said without looking up from pushing his food about his plate. All three stared at him for a minute before Ron exploded.

"YOU DID WHAT?"

Everyone turned to look at them. "You resigned as Captain and quit the team! Are you mental?! How are we meant to win the cup now?! Why?!" Ron continued to shout and every mouth in the hall dropped open in shock while the teachers watched sadly from the head table.

"I need to concentrate on my NEWT'S Ron," Harry said quietly, pushing away from the table. "I'll see you in the common room," he muttered as he walked away just as the twins approached. He dodged them and practically sprinted from the hall.

"Did we hear that right?" one of the twins asked.

"Harry's resigned from the Quidditch team and given up his captaincy?" the other asked.

"That's what he just told us," Ginny said faintly. She frowned. "Is it me or has his attitude changed since this morning?"

"Mmm," Hermione said, thinking about it. "I think your right. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since breakfast. I wonder what happened." The twins shared a look but no one noticed. Everyone finished his meal and headed up to the common room to find Harry curled up in his normal armchair by the fire, reading a book.

He looked up at them when they approached, "Hey." Hermione and Ginny went to sit but Harry shook his head and stood himself. "I told everyone else to meet at the ROR after dinner," he explained,

They traded looks, he still seemed upset and Ginny noticed he was still pale. He avoided the twins as he walk towards the portrait hole, slipping his map out as he walked. He stopped and stared at the map and the others moved to look over his shoulder to see what was wrong. They stared too.

"Am I really seeing this?" Ron asked.

"I think so, I mean, we know the map is never wrong," Hermione said, shacking herself out of her shock.

"Why are Draco and Snape's dot's practically on top of each other?" Ginny asked, confused.

"It means," Harry said quietly, "That they are either snogging or in a compromising position." He smothered a grin; on the map, already in the ROR were Severus and Draco. Harry had feeling that Seamus, Dean, Padma and Lavender, who were already nearing the seventh floor corridor, were going to get the shock of their lives.

"Come on," Harry said, quickly checking and confirming that all of his friends were on their way toward the room. He put the map away and stepped through the portrait hole. His friends all shook themselves before following.

"So," Harry said as Bill, Charlie and the original Gryffindor chasers sat down. "Ask away."

"What happened?"

"What was it like?"

"Was it boring being in the hospital wing during Christmas?"

"Have you opened your gifts yet?"

"What did you do with the paint?"

"Whoa," Harry said, holding up his hands for silence as he tried to think of answers for every question. "Give me a chance to answer. Seamus, I was ill over the Christmas holidays and had to be isolated. Pansy, it was horrid. At first I as only throwing up and then I started to get delirious. I was so hot. I don't really remember much after that."

Harry had had years of lying. Answering Hermione and Ron's questions about where he had been when he was in the hospital wing, being topped up with meds. Lying last year about where he was going when he was either going off with Albus or talking to his spy's.

"I haven't had a chance to open my gifts yet, Padma," Harry said to the now lone twin. "I was planning to wait tell Saturday and invite you all over to Grimmuald place so I can open them with Sirius and Remus. And Ginny, I'll show you." He closed his eyes and thought of his room in the hospital wing and how he wanted to go there. He heard a gasp and opened his eyes. He was facing a door which he guessed lead to his hospital room. He stood and opened it. He grinned.

"Harry, what?" Ginny asked moving to peer over his shoulder. Harry turned in time to see her jaw drop and eyes go wide in shock. "Harry!" she gasped. Everyone else scrambled to see what she was so shocked about and Harry stepped out of the way.

"It's beautiful," Hermione murmured. She looked up and stared. "Oh, Harry," she whispered and then pointed it, and the scene depicted on the floor, out to the others.

"I never knew you could draw Harry," Dean said, sounding interested. Everyone jumped when Harry laughed.

"I can't," he told the black teen, "There my memory's, magically implanted onto the room through the paint." Everyone stared at him. He looked around and pouted. "Madam Pomfrey removed the sticking charm. I liked everything upside down."

He grinned wickedly but before he could lift his wand it was snatched out of his hand. "I don't think so," Severus's voice said from behind him. Harry turned to see him pocketing his wand. He glared but the potions master only smiled grimly. "It took Albus nearly an hour to remove your charm, Harry." The name still sounded weird when any of the Slytherin's said it, Harry mused, grinning cheekily.

"Don't grin like that, you look like your mother when she was about to do something stupid or wind up your father," Severus said. Harry liked listening to his professor talk about his mother but he did notice that he never used her name. Harry still felt sorry for the man but was glad that he had gotten over his death enough to love again. His hand clasped around Draco was evidence enough, as well as the slightly scared minds of Seamus and Dean. Harry had laughed himself into another attack when the two girls had told him it was kind of hot.

"What do you mean, 'Memory's magically implanted onto the room through the paint?" Draco asked, bringing him out of his musing.

"My magic's grown since that bastard's soul was removed from my body," Harry explained. "It's grown slightly wild and if I want something, even if it's just a passing want, like say I wanted a quill to write something, one would suddenly appear in front of me. Madam P said that the soul piece must have been stunting my magical development in some way and now that it's gone my magic will grow till it's finished and I'll have to learn control it."

"That doesn't explain what you meant," Draco said as they made their way back into the ROR. The door disappeared behind them as they reclaimed their seats.

"I wanted something to do; I was only thinking of splattering the room in paint when I collected it. But one of my fever dreams appeared on the wall the next day and I experimented a bit removing and imprinting them on the walls. Then I got really ill and my dreams were mostly about the bastard and the things he did to me through the years. I came out of it and the walls were like that. I experimented a bit and decided to keep the images as they were but to cheer up the room by putting some good memories on the ceiling and put scenes from the final battle on the floor."

This was half true, he'd actually splattered the walls with paint and then accidently touched his wand to the wall. The paint had changed into a picture and after that Harry had changed it until he was happy. He'd done the same to the floor and the roof, although getting the paint on the roof had been difficult.

"So in a way, you did accidental magic," Ginny laughed. He glared at her but she only smiled sweetly at him. "Well, when you think about it, it sounds like accidental magic," she pointed out logically, making the rest of the room laugh and Harry grumble.

"Whatever," he said, trying to sound dismissive and failing horribly by the way they sniggered. "Anyway, any more questions?"

"Me and Neville have one but its private," she said, both her and her boyfriend giving him a meaningful glance. Harry nodded and they both relaxed.

"I have one," Hermione said. Harry braced himself for the onslaught he would get about quitting Quiddich and was surprised. "Where have you been all day, you weren't in any classes and you weren't at lunch either?"

Harry sighed to himself. "I was in here, Hermione," he answered. "The professors said there was no point going back to class until Monday."

Several people opened their mouth's to complain but Ron shut them up. "Why have you quit Quiddich?" he demanded.

Harry rolled his eyes while inside he was begging they believed him. "I want to concentrate on my NEWTS, you have a guaranteed job when you leave, I don't. I need my NEWTS and anyway, it's best that you start training a seeker ready for next year." All true if you thought about it the right way.

"What do you mean you don't have a guaranteed job, Kingsley told me we would be partners?" Ron asked bemused.

"I turned him down, I don't want to be an Auror," Harry said, which was completely truthful. "I've had enough of fighting; I don't know what I want to do yet." Also true, if he wasn't going to die he wouldn't know what he was going to do once he graduated.

"But-"

"Ron, leave it, I can see where he's coming from," Lavender said. Ron grumbled but sat back down. Hermione glared slightly, remembering when she had dated Ron. Harry internally rolled his eyes. "Who do think would be good for your replacement?" Ginny asked.

"There's this second year, something Tobin. He's a Half-Blood whose dad played Seeker when he was here. I've seen him muck about with his mates, he's pretty good. Or there's Jamie Applestone, she was talking about trying out next year. I haven't seen her play but…"

"How do you know all these people?" Padma asked bemused.

"I don't," Harry laughed. "I've just seen them around and anyway, as captain it's my job to be on the lookout for Quidditch players. I was going to have Tobin on reserve after the match against Hufflepuff so he was ready for next year." Harry shrugged at their inquiring gazes. "Oh and Ginny, Dennis is a pretty good keeper, if you trained him up a bit he could be good for next year. I know you're planning to stay on and help Madam P, maybe you could help the team out in your spare time."

Ginny grinned, "Did you know that I had an offer last month from the Holyhead Harpies to join as a reserve chaser? I told them no though; I'd rather stay in one piece thanks." She ignored Ron mouthing at her in shock and stood stretching.

"I believe we should return to our common rooms, curfew is in 20 minutes," Severus said, standing and pulling Draco to his feet.

"Yeah," Harry said also standing. "Owl your parents for permission to leave the school either this weekend or next, I'm heading to the owlery to ask Sirius and Remus if we can use Grimmuald Place for a second Christmas day." Hermione nodded and she dragged the rest of the Gryffindor's off. Harry noticed Justin glance at Seamus before heading off to the Hufflepuff common room. He smirked to himself.

He was about to head off to the owlery when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He faced Luna and Neville and groaned at the look on their faces. "When are you going to tell everyone, Harry?" Neville asked.

"I don't know," he sighed. "I don't think I can."

"Then show them," Luna said dreamily. Harry gave her a puzzled look.

"She means let them figure it out," Neville explained. "Have Poppy send a house elf to tell you you've missed an appointment then let them find out for themselves. Anyway, what really happened? We know that it had something to do with It." Harry quickly explained what Poppy had told him.

"What Poppy doesn't seem to have realised is that when I go to the Hollow, I'll get worse fast because I'm away from the wards," Harry ended with. He checked his watch to fins that it was five minutes to curfew. "You two better hurry, you've five minutes." Then he ran off in the direction of the owlery.

He whistled when he arrived and conjured sum parchment, a quill and ink. He quickly wrote out his letter to his godfathers and tied it to Hedwig to deliver. Then he legged it back to the common room making it back five minutes after he should have been back. He didn't feel up to mucking about with the other Gryffindor's, besides he could see the twins where trying to get his attention. He told Ginny and Hermione he was off to bed and then headed up to the dorm. He pulled his robe off and collapsed on the bed, asleep only a minute later.

That was how his dorm mates found him and Neville took the initiative to magic his cloths to P-J's and then put his sheets over him. Harry didn't even stir.

 _Hey Sirius, Remus._

 _I was wondering, as I never got to celebrate Christmas with the rest of you if we could have like a second Christmas. I was thinking of inviting all my friends and we could all get permission to leave school either this weekend or next and have a repeat. Please? This way I get to open my presents with you too._

 _Please say yes and invite the order. It'll be fun._

 _Harry._

 _Oh and guess who's got together. Draco and Sev, finally. Now if only everyone else would get on with it and ask out their significant other then I'll finally get some peace and quiet._

"So, what's he say," Sirius said impatiently. Him, Remus, Kingsley, Tonks and Amelia were sat around the living room, Kingsley and Tonks on the love seat, Amelia curled up in the armchair and Remus and Sirius were sat at opposite of the sofa. They had been discussing names for the baby when Hedwig had flown through the window.

Remus reread the letter, this time out loud.

"Oh, oh, I need to put the decorations back up and write out invites and let Molly know so that she can start cooking and…and…" Sirius bounced around the room as he talked nonstop about his plans for the weekend.

"And you need to reply to Harry telling him it's ok and which weekend he and his friends can come," a highly amused Amelia interrupted. Remus shook his head and pulled a bit of parchment towards him.

"I'll do it," he muttered, already writing.

Tonks and Kingsley stood, chuckling. "We should get going, thanks for dinner," Kingsley said. "We'll try and come but work takes priority at the moment."

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius said distractedly as he started unpacking the decorations that he had only just taken down that day.

"We hope you can but if you can't you will be missed," Remus said as he stood, letter in hand and smacked Sirius round the head as he moved past. "I'll show you out, Amelia, are staying to help or will you be staying in the spare room?"

"I think I'll get away from the insanity that Sirius is most probably about to succumb to," Amelia said, stretching and standing. Remus chuckled as he showed them out before whistling for Hedwig.

"Hello, pretty girl," he cooed when she landed on his shoulder. "I need you to take this to Harry, please, beautiful." Hedwig held out her leg and Remus attached the rolled up scroll to it. She gave him a small nip on the ear before she took off.

Remus smiled before heading back inside to, as Amelia would have said; deal with the insanity that is Sirius Black.

"Shall we try this again," Harry said as he walked into the kitchen where the females were all cooking and setting the table and the males were sat around the table talking about the latest Quiddich game. Harry froze in the doorway, his eyes fixed on the opposite wall. "Is that..?" he asked softly as he watched the poster of a young red haired girl and a boy who could have been his twin but for the brown eyes.

"Yeah, that's Lily and James. They were… acquaintances in their first year, when Sna-Severus was nothing to us. We became more…vindictive towards him when James started to like you mum and Severus used Dark based spells back at us," Sirius looked apologetic towards Severus only to jump slight when he saw Draco curled up into his side. "Since when were you gay?!" he blurted. Harry smacked him upside the head as he walked to sit next to Remus.

"If you must know, Black, I have always had an interest in both genders but since… Her, I haven't been interested in females," Snape replied.

"Sorry, it was none of my business," Sirius muttered before bouncing back to his excitable self. "So Harry," he asked, interrupting Harry and Remus's conversation on school. "How do you want to do this? We've already swapped presents, although we couldn't find yours."

"Well, I'm hungry, so eat first then I'll give each of you your presents and then you can give me mine, that okay?"

"That's fine Harry," Remus said next to him as Sirius bounced away to collect everyone's presents for Harry.

"Harry, Remus, duck!" a voice shouted and they didn't hesitate, ducking under the table only four bowls flew through the air where their heads had been a few seconds ago and landed in front of them.

"What the hell?!" Theo yelled from where he was talking to Blaise and Lavender as he got splashed with soup. "Fred! George!" Harry ignored the two men who came up behind him and began apologising to the three of them. He turned his body away from George's hand as he tried to rube some of the soup off his shoulder.

"I'm going to change my shirt and give Sirius my presents," he said as he pushed his chair back and walked from the room, not seeing the puzzled and crestfallen face of the twins.

He practically ran up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door closed. He sighed in frustration then pulled off his shirt and pulled another one on. He rummaged in his trunk for a few minutes until he pulled out a wooden box.

He found Sirius in the living room piling presents under the tree. "Hey, Sirius," he said, with a slightly gloomy tone. "Here's my presents. It's an expanded space and the opening will size to fit the present." He handed it and turned to go.

"What's the matter, pup?" Sirius asked.

"It's nothing," Harry said as he began to leave the room but Sirius words stopped him cold.

"It's not nothing. Is it the twins? Remus said you acted strange earlier when they were around, like you were pretending they weren't there."

"I-I don't know…" but he trailed off as he turned to see the sympathetic look on Sirius's face. "Yes," he admitted miserably.

"Talk to me pup, maybe I can help you."

"I'll tell you later, I don't want to be miserable today," Harry said. He caught up with everyone over dinner, ignoring the twin's every time they tried to get his attention. Finally, all the plates were clean, all the left overs stored for the next day and everyone was gathered in the living room. "I'll hand out each present separately so that everyone can see what it is and the person's reaction," Harry said to nods of approval.

"Yours are at the front," Sirius said, indicating the tree.

Harry nodded and bent down to pick up the first present. "Terry's," Harry handed it to him and he ripped into it. Harry laughed at his face when he saw the bracelet.

"Why have you given me a bracelet?" Terry squeaked.

"It was originally given to a consort of the Potter family, it allows access to the Potter library," Harry grinned.

"What?"

"I'm giving you unlimited access to the Potter library," Harry said slowly.

"You're... but that's…thank you," Terry stuttered while the rest of the room smiled and laughed.

"Next is… Alicia," he handed the small, wrapped box to her and watched as she unwrapped it and opened the box.

"Oh, Harry," she whispered, blinking back tears. "It's beautiful." She pulled the necklace out and handed it to Angelina, who was sat next to her, to put on. The Pucey crest shone from her chest as she stood and hugged Harry. "Thank you. How did you get it, Adrian told me that it went missing centuries ago?"

"I had to go down to my main vault a few months ago and I found this, along with some other stuff. I thought you would like it," Harry shrugged and pulled out the next gift. "Draco's," he said with a grin. "Another thing I found in my vaults."

"It better not be jewellery," Draco grumbled as he unwrapped the heavy book. "A book?"

"Look at the cover," Harry prompted and Draco turned it over to read the front. A written journal of the Malfoy's, added to by each generation since 1635. Underneath was the Malfoy crest and then the author, Lucifer Malfoy.

"Oh, wow, Harry," Draco gasped. "Thank you," he said and hugged him.

"Just make sure that you share it with your dad when he gets out," Harry said as read the next label. "Pomfreys," he said, handing it to the medi-witch.

She opened the present only to find an envelope. She opened that and read the piece of paper inside. "A pre-paid ticket to New York for next Christmas and a booking receipt for witch's and sorceress's hotel and spa," she smiled at Harry. "Thank you."

"Hey Ron, catch," Harry threw a small orange envelope at the red head.

He ripped it open and shrieked, "Oh Merlin, Harry, I love you mate," he said. "It's an invite for the Gryffindor team to go and practice with the cannons and then play a game," he told everyone excitedly. "Thank you, thank you," he chanted as he hugged the piece of paper.

"Kingsley," Harry said handing it to the head Auror and acting Minister. "Hold on, let me find Dora's, they go together," he rummaged around in the pile for a few minutes muttering about how he should have stuck them together before pulling out a rectangular parcel wrapped in green. "Ha, found it, here you go."

"A key?"/"A rattle?" the both asked as they opened the parcels.

"The key's a portkey that will take you to your knew cottage, with the nursery already decorated and the rattle is a clue," Harry grinned at their flummoxed expressions.

Kingsley recovered first, "Where is the cottage?"

"In between the Burrow and the Rook," he winked at Luna.

"I still don't understand," Tonks said.

"Cousin, what's the tradition in pureblood circles for the gender of the baby?" Draco drawled.

"You give the parents a bracelet for a girl and a rattle for a boy," Tonks said, confused. Then understanding lit up her face. "How do you know it will be a boy?" she demanded.

"I have my secret's, not even our dear headmaster knows," Harry grinned even more. "You see that blank bit of silver where the rest is carved?" he asked. "That's to put the baby's name," he explained when she nodded.

"We haven't decided yet," she whispered. "But I want my dad's name in their somewhere."

Harry closed his eyes and cocked his head to the side, as if listening to something, "Teddy Marcus Shacklebolt," he suggested.

Tonks made a hmm noise as she considered it, "Maybe."

"Anyway, who's next," Ginny said impatiently.

Harry laughed as he pulled out the next present from under the tree, "Penny," he said with a slightly evil grin.

"Oh dear," she murmured as she pealed the paper from the strangely shaped present. "Wha?" she asked. "Why have you given me a pregnancy test and baby care books?" she asked.

"Because," he said in a sing song voice.

"Harry, are insinuating that I'm going to be a father," Percy asked in shock.

"Not insinuating nothing," Harry said in an uncanny impression of Peeves.

"Harry," Poppy sighed. "I knew you were hanging out with Peeves too much," she said shaking her head.

"Poppy, they weren't meant to know that," he whined.

"Mrs Clearwater, I'd just humour him," McGonagall advised.

Pouting, Harry reached for the next present. He cheered up when he read the name, "Angelina," he chirped.

"A wedding planner," she laughed, Oliver had proposed on Christmas morning.

"How did you know, I didn't tell anyone," Oliver squeaked. Harry only smirked. "You know what, I don't want to know," he decided.

"Severus next," Harry said, handing the heavy box over. He watched in glee as the potions master pulled out the first of the books.

"This… this was written by… how did you…Rowena Ravenclaw's potions journal," he stuttered.

"Not only Rowena's," Harry bounced with excitement as Severus pulled the other three books out.

"Helga Hufflepuff," he read, getting paler and paler in excitement, "Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. How?"

"Helena told me how to get into the Founders potions labs, said that I might find a use for the potions in there. I saw these books' and knew that you would die for them," he pouted again, "She wouldn't tell me where their chambers were though," he sulked. Everyone chuckled at his childlike attitude.

"Anyway, who's next," he dived back into the pile, "Blaise. Be careful with it, it's quite old from what I could tell."

Blaise gingerly unwrapped the present and gasped. A beautiful silver jewellery box shined in the light. The Zabini crest was engraved in gold, along with the family motto. Blaise opened it and pulled out a small ring, set with a ruby. "These are…"

"Your great grandmothers," Harry said softly. "My grandfather won them in a duel from your grandfather. I thought that you would want them." He turned away, picking up the next present. He didn't even look at the name tag, just handed it to Seamus.

"Well, it's a broom, that much I can tell," Seamus commented, looking at the shape. "There's something else in there with it but it's a broom." He ripped into the paper and laughed. "A knew chess set and a Firebolt."

"Not just any Firebolt, look at the handle," Ginny said as she spotted the writing. Seamus looked at the same time as Ginny said, "It belonged to Aiden Lynch!"

"Blimey, how did you get that?" Dean asked.

"Lynch got the new Sparrow Hawk broom, put the Firebolt up for bids," Harry shrugged as he picked up the next present. "I entered for a dare and won with a measly 3000 galleons and decided to give it to Seamus who I know is never going to ride it and instead put it in a glass case." Seamus nodded. "Anyway, this is for Susan."

"Thank you Harry," she murmured when she saw the beautiful engraved picture frame with a photo of her family inside.

"Ginny's," Harry said. "You can't give it back I'm afraid but I did have permission from Bill to do this," Bill grumbled but nodded.

"A vault key? The bracelet I get and love but why a vault key," Ginny asked.

"By pureblood laws when a female marries she has a dowry, this is yours," he grinned before throwing the next present, an envelope, at Oliver.

"No," he said firmly when he looked inside. "You are not paying for the honeymoon, I refuse-"

"Oliver, shut up and except it," Harry snapped, moving to hand a purple wrapped present to Pansy. Oliver look to shocked to argue, actually everyone did.

Pansy snapped out of it when she looked at the beautifully designed vase. It was a mix of pink's, purple's, blues and greens with hints of yellow and red. You could just make out engravings of runes along the rim and bottom with another running around the middle inside.

"Unbreakable," Hermione said from where she sat next to Pansy reading the runes. "Clean, fresh, everlasting, there's a lot of work gone into this."

"I did the runes and there from hours of practising with the vase maker, I had the vase custom made. If there was such thing as an aura I think this is what yours would look like. Pink and purple because your true to yourself and the female you are, blue and green for your intelligence and cunning with hints of yellow and red for your bravery and loyalty," Harry said, slightly red in the face.

"It's lovely, thank you Harry, I will treasure this," Pansy said.

"I hope so," Harry murmured sadly before brightening as he looked at the name on the next present. He hopped over to Dumbledore and handed it to him. Everyone laughed as they saw the socks.

"Thank you Harry," Dumbledore chuckled. "But I have a feeling these are more than just socks."

"Your right," Harry said. "These socks have fifty different designs programed in them and are charmed to clean themselves every day. They also act as a portkey to St Mungo's with the activation word being Dobby." Everyone laughed again as Dumbledore immediately swapped his socks to the new ones.

"Charlie's," Harry grinned. They all looked slightly apprehensive at the box as it had breathing holes, indicating that it was alive. "I think you will like this, considering I heard you moaning to Luke about missing the dragons." He heard a gasp from Hermione.

"Harry, you didn't get him a-"

"Open it," Harry encouraged, ignoring his best friend.

Charlie tentatively raised the lid a gasped. "Harry, I can't, it's against the law-"

"You lot have no faith in me," Harry grumbled. "It's not actually a dragon," he explained. "Do you remember those miniatures that were given out in the second task, well, I kept it. I enlarged it and had it checked over, it should survive for another ten years. I thought you could have it; I didn't really want nor need it anymore."

"Wow," Charlie breather as he lifted it out with both hands. It looked at him and breathed fire straight into his face. Everyone gasped and Luke went to put the flame out only for Charlie to laugh. "It's safety fire," he said as the dragon gave up roasting him and curled up in his lap.

"He doesn't do much more than that, he eats, sleeps, breaths fire and that's about it," Harry said.

"Thank you Harry," Charlie said happily.

"Next is Hermione," Harry handed a small velvet box to her.

"It's lovely, Harry," Hermione said as she studied the simple necklace. It was shaped like three hearts with different gems, each of the trio's birthstones, all connected in the centre. What Hermione didn't know was that it had a small compulsion charm so that after a certain time revising she would want a break.

"It's meant to symbolise us," he muttered blushing.

"Then it's perfect," she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm gay, Ron, remember," he said as Ron glared at him. He moved back to the tree and pulled out a yellow present. "Hmm, Justin," he handed it to the boy.

He felt it for a few seconds, "Fells like fabric," Justin said as he ripped into it. "Quidditch robes? Wait, these are…"

"Montrose Magpies Quidditch robes, signed, I might add," Harry said smugly.

"How did you get it?" Theo asked, interested.

"As much as it pains me, Cho Chang became the third set Seeker," he grimaced.

"You didn't?" laughed Ginny.

"I did," he grumbled. "You should be very thankful for that," he pointed to the robes that Justin was now holding against his body.

"What was the price?" Ron grinned. Harry mumbled something, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"I said she asked me to take her on another date," Harry grumbled.

"Dear god, you went through that for me. You must really like me," Justin said as he folded the robes and placed them at his feet. "So, go on then, how bad was it?"

"Don't know, haven't been on it yet. I told her she would have to wait until the summer holidays as I was too busy with exams," he grinned.

"Harry, you can't make promises that you won't keep," Hermione admonished. Harry only rolled his eyes and handed the next present to Percy.

It was a photo album filled with photos of his parents growing up and at Hogwarts. Percy flicked through them idly. "Thank you, Harry, but why give them to me, I was horrid to them, I don't deserve this," Percy said, nearly crying.

"And that's why I gave it to you, you regret what happened and that you never got to say goodbye," Harry said softly. "You regret leaving your family for you career and that shows me that you care. That shows me that you miss them the most, that's why I gave that to you." Percy nodded, crying softly and hugging the album to his chest. Charlie and Bill stood, pulling their brother into a hug.

"Uh-hm," Harry said, gathering everyone's attention. "I think we should take a break, I seem to have forgotten a few presents. Could someone help me?"

"I need to return to Hogwarts to check and see if Miss Jenkins had any problems and to check on a patent, I will help you," Poppy said, standing. Harry nodded and followed her through the floo. Poppy quickly checked Harry over and gave him his daily potions before following Harry to the Gryffindor dorms to help him carry the few presents he forgot to pack. All in all, they were gone an hour.

"What took so long?" Sirius asked. "It's nearly six o'clock, you've been gone an hour."

"Poppy had to look after a patent," Harry shrugged as he put the three presents he had forgotten under the tree. "I guess your impatient, so I'll get straight to it and give you yours Sirius." He handed the two parcels to Sirius.

"How come he gets two presents?" Ginny grumbled but shut up when she saw the evil smirk on Harry's face.

"Hey!" Sirius shout when he ripped into the first one and about five dog toys fell to the ground. "I barley turn into a dog anymore," he grouched, opening the other one, only to turn bright red and shove it back in the wrapping.

"What was it?" Remus asked, trying to see.

"Nothing," he squeaked, pulling it away and glaring at Harry who only smirked harder.

"Next is… George, let me find Fred's so I can give them together," Harry said, his smirk falling. He knelt down and rummaged under the tree until he threw two parcels at the red heads.

George went first, opening his blue present to find a box with a vault key, "Huh?"

"I'm upping my investment," Harry said shortly from where he was still digging around under the tree and making a small pile behind him. The rest of the room exchanged looks, confused as to why Harry was so mad at the twins. "I found Fred's in my vault, I guess it was a backup." Harry pulled the last of his presents out from under the tree just as Fred pulled an invisibility cloak from its wrapping's. It wasn't the plain boring cloak it appeared to be, however, underneath a glamour that only those who knew he was dying could see, was the family heirloom, Harry's cloak. There was a shocked gasp from everyone, those who couldn't see beneath the glamour at him having given them an invisibility cloak and those that could that he was giving away the only thing of his father he had left. "Anyway, the next present is for Neville," he said, not even giving the twins time to comment on their presents.

"An amulet?" Neville asked.

Harry cleared his throat. "I found two of these in a glass case in my vault. The label said that the wearer could use them to talk to those rendered comatose," there was a gasp. "There is a catch, however. They can only be used seven times each. According to one of my ancestor's diaries, seven were made," he shivered slightly at the reminder of the Horcruxses, "To last for seven attempts. It doesn't say why or where the other five went, that's all I know. But I do know that I would give anything to talk to my parents again and that you would to."

"Thank you, Harry," Neville murmured as Luna curled up practically in his lap. Everyone else had a few tears in their eyes.

"Anyway, the next present is far happier," Harry said. "It's Luna's and I just know it's going to piss Hermione off," he said, handing a box with breathing holes. "I spent ages asking around for this," he grinned.

"Ohh," Luna said as she opened the book. "A Crumple-Horned Snorkack," she said, pulling it out. It looked like a miniature lion with a horn on its head and wings on its back.

"But-that's-it shouldn't-impossible," Hermione stuttered while the rest of the room laughed slightly.

"Aren't you cute, yes you are, I'm going to call you sandy cause that's what colour you are," Luna cooed at the little animal. It yawned in her face and curled up in her lap, imitating the dragon Charlie had received earlier. Everyone chuckled at Luna's cooing, even as Harry reached down into the pile at his feet.

He sighed, "Why am I picking the sad ones." He handed it to a worried looking Theo.

"A visitation right to see my father over the summer holidays," he croaked as he read it. "And a wand holster?"

"You said you needed a new one," Harry said. "I know there both a bit impersonal but you didn't really drop any hints so… I got you those. The wand hoster can shield against everything bar the unforgivables."

"It's alright, everyone says I'm hard to shop for," Theo reassured him.

"The next presents for Professor Flitwick," Ginny said, making them all jump.

"Hey, that's my job," Harry said, shooing her away from the pile. She handed him the present in her hand and pretended to sulk to her seat in front of Hermione. "Here you are sir," Flitwick took the parcel and banished the light blue paper.

"Shoe's?" he asked.

"I charmed them so that they float up to a metre off the ground and they will resize to fit your feet as I wasn't sure of you size," Harry explained.

"Brilliant, let's see if they work," the charms professor squeaked excitedly. He slipped on the shoes and went to step onto the floor only to float above it. "Oh well done, the charms work perfectly." He tried to sit back down but found that he couldn't float low enough to do so. "I think these will take practice," he squeaked as a laughing Bill helped him take the shoes off.

"Sorry, I should correct that," Harry said, moving to take his wand from behind his ear.

"Nonsense, I just have to practise," Flitwick waved him away.

"If you say so," Harry muttered, picking up the next present, a gold one. "Denis."

"You got me a present," Denis squeaked.

"It's really for both you and Colin," Harry said as he watched Denis rip into it. He gasped when he saw the photo and inscription on the front of a photo album. To Colin's life and the hope that even in death he has a camera! The photo was of a four-year-old Colin taking a picture of one-year-old Denis with their dads help. "It's all the photos I could find of you and Colin and most of the picture he took at Hogwarts," Harry explained as he watched the youngest Creevey flick through the book, tears in his eyes.

"Most?" he asked, looking up.

"Some of the pictures he took were indecent," Harry grumbled.

"Like what?" Ginny asked, grinning evilly.

Harry cleared his throat and ignored her, "The next one's for Luke," he handed the eighteen-year-old the purple parcel.

"Oh wow," Luke exclaimed when he saw the charms book. "You shouldn't have Harry; I mean this was written by Lucia Potter, it must have cost a fortune." Harry raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh, you got it from your vault."

"Yep, but I found the original, I had to pay a bit to get it reprinted," Harry said, smiling at his infusiasum. "Anyway, next is Deans. And you can't say no," he said, slightly smug.

Dean nervously opened the red envelope. Inside was a bank vault key and a contract with a small bottle cap taped to it. He sent Harry a questioning look.

"It's my investment," he explained. "Inside the vault is the same amount I gave the twins to get started in their joke shop and the contract is the deeds to a small house with a studio for you to do your paintings."

"Core, thanks mate," Dean said. "I suppose this is the portkey to get to get to the house."

Harry nodded and went pick up the next present in the now very small pile. "Padma," he handed a blue envelope to her and picked up a gold one and gave it to Lavender. "They go together, kinda."

"Internship with healer James," Padma squealed, jumping up and hugging Harry.

"Oh my merlin," Lavender squealed, "An internship with Madam Malkin, thank you." She mimicked Padma and hugged Harry.

"Now the conditions are that you have to both get exceeds expectations in you subjects and at least one outstanding," Harry said sternly. "Otherwise neither will take you, okay?"

"Easy,"

"I'll do it,"

"Good," Harry said. He handed the next present to Bill.

"A knife," Bill murmured. "A special knife, that can cut through anything and can unlock any door," he said reading the runes. "This must have been expensive," he commented. Harry only shrugged, staring sadly at the knife. Under the glamour that only he could see through was the Christmas gift from Sirius in his fourth year. He had hesitated to give it away but knew Bill would put it to good use at work. "Thanks Harry."

Harry shrugged and handed the next present to Remus, a small wooden box. "You need to cancel the shrinking spell," he said. Remus did and jumped when it enlarged.

"A trunk," Remus stated.

"A trunk with two rooms," Harry said. "One's for when you turn into a wolf, it's got real plants and a few rabbits that you can hunt. It's sound proofed and completely safe."

"Brilliant," Remus breathed. "And the second room."

"Well, that's really for both you and Sirius, go on, take a look," Harry said. Remus thought about for a few seconds before exchanging a look with Sirius. He nodded and they both opened the trunk and stepped in.

"The second room is full of pictures of both my parents growing up, them at school and all the pictures of me I could find. I call it the Marauders Memory room," Harry explained softly, listening to the exclamations from inside the trunk. The two men spent ten minutes in there before both resurfaced, puffy eyes.

"Thank you, Harry," they both murmured. He hugged them both before they sat down.

"Now, then, who's next," Harry murmured. "Madam McGonagall."

"Harry," she murmured when she saw the tartan kilt with her family crest. She laughed when she found the catnip he had wrapped inside.

"Lee's next, another investment on my behalf," Harry said handing a brown envelope over. "It's a vault filled with 5000 galleons or the key to it," Harry told him.

"Harry, you shouldn't-"

"Shut up, I said it was an investment, it so you can start that radio station," Harry said, waking him lightly over the head.

"Oh, ok, thanks," Lee muttered, rubbing the back of his head where Harry had hit him.

"Opps," Harry said, reading the label of the next presents. "Kingsley, I need a favour. These are for Lucius, he was complaining he was bored and so I got him some children's books, muggle and magical, to keep himself entertained. Can you make sure he gets these, please?"

Draco was laughing slightly as Kingsley spoke, "They'll have to go through all the checks but yes, I can get them to him."

"Thanks, this present is for Hannah," he shifted nervously, sharing a glance with Amelia. "This is really from both me and Amelia but I had to pull some strings to get it done," he said nervously.

"Adoption papers," Hannah breathed. "Who?"

"Me," Amelia said softly. "I know that you hate it at your aunt's, that she doesn't understand what you are. You spend almost all of your time with me and Susan. You might as well be part of the family."

"I-Why is it Harry's present and not yours," Hannah asked.

"Because they wouldn't grant it to Amelia," Harry said angrily. "They said that you were with blood family and that you would be fine, just as they were with my family and any other Muggleborn witch or wizard, not worthy of their time. I found out through… well, that doesn't matter but I found out and made it look like I was going to adopt you into the Potter family, make my parents your parents. They gave me a blank form and filled in all but your name and Amelia's."

"How did you persuade the old bat?" Susan asked curiously.

"I didn't," he said slyly. "Remus went to her acting as if he was one of the teachers at the school and that he had to file a change of information in case anything should happen. She fell hock, line and sinker."

"I still can't believe you talk me into that, although I do agree with what I did," Remus shook his head.

"Thank you," Hannah said, still clutching the papers. "Can I have some time to think about this?" Both Amelia and Harry nodded.

"After that drama, I have two presents left to give, Katy's and Amelia's herself," he said, handing a silver envelope to Katy and a strange shapes parcel to Amelia.

"You open yours first, Katy," Amelia said.

"You can't say no," Harry reminded her as she opened the envelope and tipped a small stack of folded papers onto the desk. She quickly read the first one over.

"The deeds to a flat in London," Katy exclaimed. She saw Harry's determined look and caved. "Fine, thank you. I will pay you back though." Harry only smiled and turned to Amelia.

"You need to enlarge them later, when you want to fit them," he told her. She unwrapped the strange shape and looked puzzled at the wooden frames.

"Door frames?"

"I had them made," Harry explained. "When enlarged and fitted they have wards. Anyone who steps through with bad intentions, no matter if it's directed at you or in general, it will trigger a small alarm that that makes it light up. Only you and anyone else you program into it can see the light. Flashes grey the intentions are general, flashes black they are directed at you. There's one for your office and one for you front door." Amelia nodded and thanked him.

Harry noticed that a few of his friends were starting to drop off to sleep and checked the clock to find that it was nearly half ten. "I think we should head to bed. I'll open my presents tomorrow." Everyone agreed and Harry quickly made his way to the bedroom he would be sharing with Ron and, to his dismay when Remus had told him, the twins. He didn't stop to change his cloths only threw them off then settled under the sheets. He waited for perhaps fifteen minutes before the door opened and he heard two sets of footsteps entre. Harry evened his breathing, even as his chest tightened.

He heard a sigh. "He's already asleep," Fred sounded disappointed.

"We'll talk to him tomorrow; find out why he's been avoiding us. I thought it was the perfect chance, with Ron choosing to join the boys sleep over in the living room. Never mind." They went about getting ready for bed and Harry heard them settle into the same bed.

They fell asleep not long after but Harry was awake for a long while, crying into his pillow. He eventually fell asleep, eyes red and puffy, and dreamed of when life was simpler and what could have been.


	8. Chapter 6- Receiving and explaining

Chapter six- Receiving and explaining

Harry was jerked awake the next morning by Fred sitting on his feet. "Get off," he mumbled burying his face further into the pillow.

"Harry," George whispered in his ear from where he was sat behind him. "Harry, wake up, we need to talk to you." Harry rolled over, glaring at them before stretching, dislodging Fred from his feet. He pushed George off the bed and stood.

"I need to pee," he muttered, pulling on a pair of boxers and a t-shirt that he would latter discovers was Fred's and stumbled out the door and down the corridor, heading for the bathroom. He relieved himself and headed towards Sirius's room, intending to talk to him.

He went to knock on the Gryffindor gold door when he heard a voice from inside. "Sirius," Harry called, knocking softly so as to not wake up Remus in the next room. He heard the voice behind the door again and presumed that Sirius was calling him in. He froze to the spot when he peered in.

"Mmn, Remus," Sirius mumbled from where he was wrapped up in his sheets. "Feels good!"

Harry snapped the door closed, blushing to match Ron's hair. He stood there for a few minutes, trying unsuccessfully to stop blushing and erase the last few minute from his mind before reluctantly heading back to his bedroom.

He peeked inside and found only Fred, bent over his trunk rummaging for something and muttering under his breath. He snuck past and grabbed the first set of clothing that came to hand and returned to the bathroom to get changed. He found that he had grabbed one of his newer t-shirts, a dark red with golden stitching and writing. Warning, it had written on the back, likely to explode at any time. He pulled on a pair of plain black trousers and a pair of Dobby's socks before venturing down to breakfast.

"Hey Harry," Sirius said as he past the living room. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," he muttered, trying and failing not to blush. He shut the door behind him and plopped down into one of the sofas.

"I want to talk about the Twins," Sirius started cautiously. "I want to know what's going on."

Harry sighed. "I ran into the twins a few days ago in one of the bathrooms," he started as he curled into one of the armchairs. "They wanted to know if the rumour I was gay was true. They acted so dominating, it made me high and when they kissed me," he blushed. "It was amazing Sirius, I passed out and woke up to them kissing. I was so delirious that when they stopped I wanted more."

"So what's the problem?" Sirius asked, still cautious. He was slightly embarrassed to be having this conversation but recognised that it needed to be done.

"They just left me there, on the bathroom floor sticky, hard and needy, all alone without so much as a sign that they wanted to-wanted to…" Harry found himself crying as he tried to finish and explain how much they hurt him. "It hurt, Sirius, I thought we were friends, I've liked them both since fifth year but they hurt me, used me, then just left," he sobbed.

"Oh, Harry," Sirius sighed pulling him out of the chair to hug him. "I'm sure there was more to it than that. You said yourself that you were-um-delirious, you might have missed something," Sirius said awkwardly.

"I would have remembered; I was so focused on them but nothing. And now they're trying again and I've had enough hurt. I can't take anymore, Sirius, I just want to finish this without problems," he sobbed.

Sirius was about to say something but the door opened and Fred poked his head through. "The girls say that breakfast is ready…" he trailed of as he saw the state Harry was in. Harry jumped to his feet muttered about cleaning up and pushed past Fred and ran back up the stairs. "Harry, what...?"

"You and your brother have some explaining to do," Sirius spat.

"What did we do?" Fred asked, generally bemused.

"You hurt him, played with his feelings," Sirius snarled.

"I don't…"

"Fred, what's taking so long..?" George trailed off as he took in the scene.

"Sirius seems to think we hurt Harry and played with his feelings," Fred explained.

"What!?" George exploded. "We would never do that to our chosen. How can you think that?"

"Your chosen?" Sirius asked sharply.

"Yes," Fred said calmly. "We didn't even realise we had chosen him until he nearly dies in forth year. We choose not to act on it, firstly because he was too young and then later because we thought he was straight. Now, how have we supposedly hurt him?"

"He thinks you used him, played him, when you…" Sirius trailed off blushing.

"When we snogged him in the bathroom," George said bluntly.

"And we didn't play him. We care about him, Sirius, have always done one way or another," Fred yelled. "We want him to love us, we would never hurt him. And if we did, it wasn't deliberate and we're sorry, so sorry, sorry we didn't want to go too far too fast and that we didn't want to scare him away. We should never have left him there like that, we realise that but we weren't thinking to clearly either." Fred was nearly in tears by the time he finished speaking and George pulled him to his chest, tears in his own eyes.

"He wasn't the only one hurt," George said softly. "When he started to ignore us, we thought that he had played us. It hurt and he wouldn't even talk to use anymore."

"I'm sorry," Harry's voice made them jump and they turned to see him stood in the door way, head bowed. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I should have known that you would never play with a person's feeling's like that but…"

"Oh Harry," George said, pulling him into his arms beside Fred, who wrapped one arm around him so that all three of them where cuddled together.

"If you four don't come for breakfast right now, you won't get any," Pansy yelled, breaking the moment. The three shared a look while Sirius stood awkwardly near the door.

"We'll talk later, today is for you not us," Fred murmured, stepping back. Harry shrugged, still not looking up.

"Tell Pansy that I'm not hungry and am going to help Madam P so she can come today instead," Harry told them as they walked towards the kitchen. Harry turned towards the front door but paused as he passed a mirror to look. A pale face, blood shot eyes and a bleeding nose stared back.

"Here they are," Sirius exclaimed as both Poppy and Harry walked into the living room.

"Yes, here we are," Poppy said, bustling Harry over to a seat. "Now you sit down, Harry and stay sat down." She conjured a blanket and wrapped it round him, ignoring the fidgeting and scowl.

"I am not invalid," he snapped at her when she went to add another one.

"Of course not," Poppy muttered. "Mrs Parkinson, is there any food left, Harry needs to eat something."

"Madam Pomfrey," Harry's voice warned her to stop so she stepped away. Pansy bustled back in with some toast but Harry just placed it on the floor by his feet, ignoring the worried look's everyone sent his way. "Where's my presents?"

Everyone laughed. "We decided we would go in reverse age order, so Denis is first," Sirius said, bouncing in his seat.

"It's not very much," Dennis muttered, handing his over. Harry untangled himself from the blanket to take the rectangular shaped present and ripped into it. "It's muggle but I thought you would like it."

Harry smiled as he pulled out a four picture photo frame. It was sky blue in colour with the word memories engraved all around the edge in purple. "It's beautiful, Dennis," Harry murmured as his gaze was drawn to the only picture in the frame, a wizarding photo of him chasing Colin round the common room trying to get the picture in his hands. Colin was smiling and laughing as he dodged between the other Gryffindor's before Harry finally caught him and grabbed the photo out of his hands. Then it would start again. "Thank you," he smiled at Dennis.

"I'm next," Ginny said, dumping a small but heavy present in his lap. Harry to one look at the smirk on her face and whipped out his wand to cast detection charms. When he deemed it safe he carefully unwrapped the parcel. He blinked at it. "You're as paranoid as Moody so I thought I could help you along," Ginny said brightly as Harry picked up the hip flask.

"Thank you, I think," Harry said turning it over in his hand. He finally placed it on the floor and looked expectantly at Luna. She passed him a lumpy present in blue wrapping paper. He instantly ripped into it and pulled out a white woollen blanket. He caught flashes of colour and looked at it more closely to see that everyone's signatures where embroidered in their house colours all over the blanket. "Luna," he whispered, staring at it. "It's…" he couldn't think what to say. "Thank you," he mumbled, hugging it to his chest.

"That's why you ask for our signatures," Sirius said, slightly bemused by his godson's reaction.

"Yes," Luna said dreamily. "The notram said he might need it soon."

"Need it?" Hermione asked, watching her best friend search through all the names on the blanket. Luna only shrugged, smiling when Harry exclaimed loudly.

"There's Molly and Arthurs signatures on here," Harry said, confused.

"I asked if I could borrow their wedding certificate, it had both their signatures on it," Luna drifted over to sit on Neville's lap, getting a laugh from both Neville and Harry.

"How did you make it?" Ginny asked interestedly. "You can't have hand sewn it."

"I knitted the blanket myself then laid it flat on my bed. I placed all of the pieced of paper your signatures were on where I wanted them then charmed several needles to each trace a different colour ink. Each needle had a different colour thread."

There was a stunned silence broken by Harry giggling. "You should all know by now that Luna's smart," he snorted.

"Well done Miss Lovegood," Flitwick squeaked. "When we get back to school remind me to award ten points to Ravenclaw for outstanding charm work."

"Charms always was mummy's best subject," Luna breezed.

"On that note," Padma said brightly, used to Luna from sharing a house for six years. "Here's my presents." She handed him to small boxes wrapped in red paper. Harry opened the lid of the smallest one and licked his lips.

"Orange chocolates," he cheered. "And Liquorice wands," he continued, opening the bigger box.

Poppy immediately snatched them out of his hands. "I'll keep these until later," she said sternly to a pouting Harry.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Where's my next present?"

"Me," Neville grinned, used to Harry's mood swings. "I knew you needed another one."

Harry moodily opened the golden wrapped present and grinned slightly. "Thanks Nev," he said holding up the dagger holder to show everyone else.

"Why do you have a dagger holder?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"Back up, in case I lost my wand," Harry muttered as he summoned his old holder with his two sided dagger. "Don't touch it though." He warned Remus as he reached out to touch the dagger. "One side silver the others just normal steel. It's so it would protect me from Greyback. Lucius showed me how to use it." As he was talking he switched the dagger from its old holder to the new, red and sliver dragon skin one.

"I'll bare that in mind," Remus muttered, the other adults bar Dumbledore and Snape looking slightly worried.

"I only carry it now because some of the Darks supporters are still around," Harry said absently, still studying the dagger holder.

"I think he likes you present, Nev," Luna breezed.

"I think so to," Neville said, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah," Theo muttered. "Smug bastard. Harry, do you want my present or what?"

"Of course I do," Harry said, coming out of his daze. "It's just…never mind. Can I have my present now, Theo?"

Theo handed over a green wrapped present, looking slightly confused. "It's not much and is kinda a waste of time now that you're not doing Quidditch anymore…" he babbled. He shut up when Harry shot him a strange look.

"It's the thought that counts, not the actually present," Harry said strongly, pulling the paper off to reveal a broom servicing kit. "Thanks," he said happily. "The one Hermione got me ran out last month and my brooms starting to look a little worse for wear. What?" he asked when he saw the puzzled faces. "Just cause I don't play Quidditch anymore doesn't mean I don't fly."

They nodded in understanding as Harry added the large box to the growing pile at his feet. Hannah stood from her seat next to Susan and handed him her present. "My present doesn't look that good when you compare it to the present you got me," she said nervously as he opened the black velvet box and gasped.

"They're beautiful," Harry gasped, pulling out one of the two items in the box. It was a cufflink; black in colour and a 3D hexagon in shape. The edges where decorated with a bronze Celtic design and the surface was inlaid with a small emerald.

"Thanks," Hannah smiled bashfully. "That one's a portkey that will bring you here when you activate it. The other ones charmed to act like a shield against all but the Darkest of spells."

"Huh!" Harry muttered, smiling at her then going back to examining the cufflinks. "Thank you; I'll wear these with pride."

"Do you mind if I have a look at the spell work, Harry?" Flitwick squeaked. Harry carefully handed the medium size box while Hannah returned to her seat.

"Who's next?" Harry muttered.

"I think it's me," Terry said, handing over a familiar shaped parcel.

"I know what that is without opening it," Harry chuckled.

"Well, I ran out of ideas on what to get everyone," Terry shrugged. Harry grinned at his blunt honesty and open up the blue wrapped present to reveal a book. A guide to hexes and their counters by Richard Paterson.

"Huh, that's not bad for a present actually," Harry grinned. "Thanks Terry," he added it to the pile and carefully set the cufflinks on the arm of his chair.

"I think you're like my present, if only because it will annoy Hermione," Draco drawled, not even standing from his seat in Severus's lap to hand him another small jewellery box. Inside was a small diamond stud earring which made Harry raise his eyebrow at the blonde. "You can program three glamour's which are voice activated."

"Wow," Harry said slightly shocked. "Thanks. Um, Poppy," he turned begging eyes to the healer. "Can you pierce my eye please?" Poppy sighed and did as he asked. Harry happily placed the earring in his left ear. He paused, cocking his head. "I'm hungry." He stated and Pansy immediately shot off to the kitchen and to make him something. She came back ten minutes later with a large toasted sandwich. Harry happily munch on it while everyone else told him about what they got for Christmas.

"I'm full," he said a while later, pushing a third of the sandwich away. "Thank you Pansy."

"That's alright, Harry, I like being able to make my own meals," Pansy smiled.

"If your hunger has been satisfied," Severus drawled but he was smiling slightly.

"Deans next," Seamus chuckled.

Dean handed a thin envelope which Harry happily ripped into. He gasped happily as he pulled out a hand drawn picture of the DA from fifth year. "I drew that in fifth year and thought you'd want it so I copied it."

"Thank you Dean," Harry muttered. He bent down and pulled the picture frame into his lap and slid the picture into the bottom left corner. "There, I only need two more pictures and I can hang it in my memory room."

"Memory room?" Sirius asked.

"I'll explain later," Harry said. "I want to open my presents." Sirius shook his head with a smile but left it alone.

"It's another book I'm afraid," Justin chuckled as he handed over a black wrapped present.

"A book on Vampires," Harry said bouncing. "Great, I always wanted to understand more about Severus," he said happily, sending even Severus laughing.

"Very funny, brat," he said fondly.

"I try," Harry grinned. "Won-Won's turn."

"Shut up," Ron muttered at the reminder of his relationship with Lavender. Both he and Lavender were blushing. "Um, right, there's two in there and one might upset you but I found it and thought you would want it so… yeah." He handed over a lumpy red parcel.

Harry opened it and gasped. "It's a Weasley jumper," he muttered, bowing his head. "How?"

"Mum starts knitting them around Easter," Bill said gently. "We all have one from this year. Ron found them when we were cleaning out their bedroom."

Harry gave a small sob and hugged the jumper to his chest and curling up around it. "I didn't mean to make you this upset," Ron yelped but Hermione hushed him.

"Be quite Ron," she murmured. "He never really mourned your mum and dad's death, I don't think he wanted to believe they were gone."

"Oh," Ron muttered.

"Oh Harry," the twins murmured and stood from the position at the older brother's feet and sat down on each side of him, hugging him to their chests. "It's alright, Harry, we all miss them."

"I know- know it sounds-sounds horrid but-but she was more my-my mum than Lily," Harry sobbed, into Georges chest.

"We understand Harry," Fred said, shooting a pale faced Sirius a glare. "She was the first person to really try and take care of you. You don't remember you real mum so ours took her place." Sirius deflated as did Severus who had looked slightly angry.

"Sorry, me being silly," Harry muttered, rubbing at his face and reaching for the rest of Ron's present. He leafed through the sweet that had scattered over his lap and pulled out a small pack of Bubble Balls, a sweet that filled the stomach with harmless bubbles for a few minutes, and chewed on one.

"Can I have my next present," he muttered into the awkward room.

He spent the next fifteen minutes clutching the jumper as he quietly opened his presents; an old picture of Lily and Susan's mum from Susan, a bottle of Firewhiskey from Seamus, a battle robe that was charmed to protect the wearer from all but the Darkest curses and the Unforgivables from Blaise and a new purple cloak with the pureblood sign embroidered in the centre in gold. It was Lavenders present that more of a reaction than a quiet thank you.

"Merlin!" he yelped as he opened the wooden box she had given him. "Lavender, what the hell!?"

"I thought you would appreciate them," she said, grinning quite evilly.

"What is it?" Fred asked from where they were now sat at Harry's feet. He reached up and tried to look inside only to have the lid slammed in his face.

"No!" a bright red Harry gasped and tried to keep it away from the curious twins as they tried to steal it to look. Sirius came up behind him and when he held it high snatched it away. "No, don't!"

Sirius peered inside and started to laugh. He handed it to the twins who grinned evilly upon seeing the contents. They leered up at Harry, "We could make good use of these later," Fred said, pulling out a bottle of lube. Everyone either went bright red or burst out laughing.

"Is there anything else in there?" Charlie asked.

"Yep!" "No!"

The twins ignored Harry and went to pull something else from the box only to have it snatched from their hands.

"There are sex toys," Harry squeaked. "Happy? Now leave it and I'll burn them later. Next present."

Everyone was laughing by now as Harry magically sealed the box shut and placed it on the floor near his pile of present.

Hermione took pity on him and handed over her present. "I don't know why you wanted this but…"

"Rituals and Enchantments by Matilda Malfoy, goodie," Harry said as he unwrapped the book.

"I thought you hated reading," Luke Nash laughed as he handed his present over. Harry immediately put on the simple leather bracelet and gave the older boy a hug. Then he groaned.

"Alright, you two," Harry said to the twins at his feet, who were both holding out a present. "Hand them over and I withhold the right to murder you if it's a prank." They both smiled softly at him, putting him at ease.

He unwrapped Fred's first and smiled as he held a bronze and silver pocket watch. "Thank you," he muttered and bent down to peck Fred on the forehead. He was blushing as he opened Georges present; ignoring everyone else's shocked gaze and the Twins happy smiles.

Draco snapped out of it when he saw Harry slide a ring onto his middle finger. "Merlin and Morgana!" he gasped. "That's a courting ring!" he yelped, grabbing Harry's left hand. Everyone's eyes shot to the beautiful ring, an emerald nestled between two rubies.

Harry was quiet for a moment, studying the ring and it's meaning with everyone else. Finally, he looked up and meet a few of the adult's eyes; Dumbledore, McGonagall, Tonks and Kingsley. "I don't know," he murmured, taking the ring off and setting it back in its case. "I need to think," he said, looking down at them.

"It's ok," George answered, sounding only slightly disappointed.

"We know it's a big decision," Fred continued, sounding only slightly worse than his brother.

"Both of you?!" Several of the rooms occupants exclaimed.

It was Pansy that won the contest, however, when she exclaimed, "You mean those rumours were true?!"

Harry chuckled weakly, still caught up in his own thoughts. "I think," Dumbledore interrupted before he could be interrogated. "That we should continue with the present giving. It is nearly lunch time and I must insist that those who need to return to school after." Harry shot him a grateful smile that no one else saw, to busy nodding in agreement.

Katie handed over a plain envelope, grinning. "I think both you and Hermione are going to like my present," she giggled. Harry quirked an eyebrow but opened the envelope carefully.

"Papers," Harry muttered, confusedly looking at the small pile of papers inside.

"My revision notes from last year," Katie explained, still giggling.

"Oh, thanks," he exclaimed. "I was looking for someone to lend me some."

"I know, that's why I gave you mine," she laughed.

"Well, thank you," he bounced. "Who's next?"

"Lee," Fred grinned.

Harry groaned, "I repeat what I said to the twins." Lee only grinned at him from his place next to Katie before removing his arm from round her waist and handed a silver wrapped present open.

"You need to unshrink it first," Lee told him as he returned to his seat. Harry grabbed his wand and unshrunk it, sending everyone laughing when it ripped through the silver wrapping. Harry smiled when he saw the beautiful owl perch made of a dark wood. Harry summoned it closer so he could look more closely at it. "Made of oak wood. Has a silver base. Oh, it has her name on it," he muttered. "Thanks Lee, I love it and I'm sure Hedwig will to," he gushed.

"Mine next," Alicia handed over a small envelope.

"Why are all my presents in envelopes," he pretended to whine.

"Just open it," Alicia sighed but she was smiling. Harry giggled as he opened it.

"Ooh, thank you, now I only need one more picture," Harry said happily as he added the picture to his new frame. It was of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in second year; Harry sat on Oliver's shoulders that stood in the middle, the twins either side to him. The three chasers where knelling in front of them and all of them were laughing as Fred and George tickling Harry before he slapped them both round the head.

"I remember that," Oliver laughed.

"You know, from the way you three are acting it almost looks like you already liked each other," Hermione mused. Everyone laughed as all three of them went red.

"Here's my present," Angelina giggled as she handed a small green wrapped box. "From what I've heard you won't be using them but…" she trailed off with a small smile.

"It doesn't matter," Harry smiled at her. "Like I said to Theo, it's the thought that counts." He held up the seeker gloves that she had given him. "I may never get a chance to use them but any kids I could have might." He ignored the sympathetic gazes that burned into him from those who knew he wouldn't live long enough to have kids. He added the seeker gloves to his growing pile and looked to Oliver for his next present. He pouted when he was handed another envelope, this time white.

"You better be thankful for that," Oliver said sternly. "It took a lot of persuading to get it." Then he smiled, showing everyone that he was joking.

"A session ticket for the Quidditch world cup," Harry gasped. "With a back stage pass for the finals." He jumped up and hugged the older boy thanking him over and over. Even if he wouldn't be able to go to the last few matches, including the finals, he was still thankful that Oliver had gotten them for him.

The adults shared smiles at his excitement and chuckled when he tackled the larger boy. "It's nice to see him generally excited for a change," Poppy murmured to McGonagall.

"Yes, lately he has seemed… cold, unfeeling," McGonagall replied. "I think these last two days have been the only time since the summer that he has actually shown what he is feeling."

"His mood swings worry me," Poppy confessed.

"Why?"

"He is a natural submissive and has a carrier's mark."

"You think his body is preparing him?"

"Yes but that is not what worries me. His magic will be split between trying to fight the disease and preparing his body for pregnancy. Along with his classes he will magically exhausted."

"I see," Dumbledore joined the conversation. "Maybe it would be best if he was put on theory work in his classes."

"I will talk to him about it," Poppy agreed.

"Oh wow," Harry's voice drew their attention back to Harry, who was holding a silver robe with gold embroidery up to show every. "Thanks Percy, it's stunning. Now I have something to wear to Oliver and Angelia's wedding," he said happily, folding the robe and placing back in its orange wrapped box.

"I'm glad you like it Harry," Percy said softly. "Penelope helped me chose it."

"Of course I did," Penelope laughed as she handed over her own present. "He wanted you to have this horrid red robe that would have clashed horribly with you skin."

Laughing as Percy blushed; Harry opened his present from the graduated Ravenclaw and pouted when he found a book. Then he read the title, curses and counters, and grinned. "Thanks Penny."

"You're welcome, I didn't really know what to get you so I settled for a safe option," Penelope sighed.

"It's alright," Harry smiled. "I'll soon have a book on every subject," he giggled.

"I'm sure you will," Dora laughed. "My present isn't a physical thing. Well, he will be 5 and a half months but anyway, I'd like you to be my baby's godfather." She shifted in her seat, calming when Kingsley placed a hand on her knee.

"You want… godfather… me…" Harry spluttered. "I… thank you, I'm honoured."

"It wasn't really much of a choice," Dora chuckled. "Susan's going to be its godmother."

"Why have you chosen teenagers, no offence, to take care of the child if neither of can't," Katie asked.

"Well, I was always going to have Harry as the godfather because of how he handled that baby we rescued from that village," Dora smiled sadly, all of them remembered the barley month old baby that had been found in the runes of the village, the only survivor. Harry had looked after her for a month until a foster home could be found.

"I agreed with her, he would be a natural father," Kingsley smiled at him.

"Anyway, we realised that mum was too old to look after a baby and Kingsley's cousin doesn't like me for my family background," Dora continued. "We decided that we would rather have someone young because, even though magical being's live twice as long as muggle's, they could look after him for longer. So I chose Susan, who's been like a little sister to me since I first meet her when she was nine years old."

Susan smiled even as Harry sat shell shocked, "I think I can speak for both of us when I say we are both honoured."

"Yeah, honoured," Harry muttered dazedly. He blinked. "Are you sure?" he asked the couple, biting his lip.

"Yes, Harry," Tonks said with a mixture of pity and amusement. "We're sure."

"Ok," he whispered. He smiled, albeit weakly.

"Here, this should cheer you up a bit," Charlie said, chucking a book shaped present at him. Harry smiled as he opened the present, not seeing the mischievous look on Charlie's face.

He squeaked when he read the title of the book. Male's safe pleasure. He quickly stuffed it in the box from Lavender. The twins caught a glimpse of the title, however, and cracked up. "A book on contraceptive spells?!"

"Mainly," Charlie leered. Beside him Luke rolled his eyes. "It also has some more-"

"Alright, alright," Harry squeaked. "I think they know what the book contains. Why, oh why do have I have such perverted friends?" he asked himself.

"Why indeed?" Snape drawled through twitching lips. Harry didn't know is he wanted to kill someone or was trying not to laugh. "Can we hurry this along, I would like to get my classroom ready for the incompetent idiot in second year."

"Of course Severus, whatever you say Severus," Harry grinned. Snape snorted.

"Well, to appease the dreaded potions master," Bills lips twitched as he handed his present over.

"Thanks Bill," Harry said happily, reading the contents page of runes and arithmacy, a guide for emergencies.

"That's okay, Harry," Bill smiled at him. "Although, I don't know why you wanted a book on runes and arithmacy but I found one you would be able to understand, no offence."

"None taken," Harry laughed. "I wanted to change my options in forth year but by then it was too late." His friends chuckled, Hermione especially, remembering when he would borrow her books.

"Here you are cub," Remus smiled as he handed over another book shaped present. "To add to your library."

"Thanks Remmy," Harry smiled back and it widened when he read the title of the book, a wolfs perspective, a guide to werewolf's packs and society.

"It's alright cub," Remus answered.

"I suppose I am next," Snape sighed, handing over a vial with a grey liquid inside. "This is the Caecitas potion, a potion used for correcting sight. Be careful with it, I will not make another. Fresh Whomping Willow leaves are very hard to harvest and I will not go near that tree again."

"Yes sir," Harry said, his eyes sparkling.

"Do not take it now," Snape warned. "It will cut the nerves to your eyes for 14 hours so you do not feel it working, as such you will not be able to see while it works."

"Thanks Sev," Harry smiled getting a tight smile in return. "Madam P, can you look after this tell we get back to school, please?"

"Of course, Harry," she grinned, taking the potion from him.

"Thanks," Harry grinned back. Seeing Sirius fidgeting in his seat, "Go on then Sirius but if it's a prank I will put you on hospital rest for the next year."

"It's not, I promise," Sirius jumped over to him and hugged him before handing two presents to him, one a small jewellery box and the other another potion vile. "The potions the Animagus Adapertio potion, it will turn you into you animagus form for half an hour. It can only be used once though."

"Thanks, Sirius," Harry squealed, hugging him fiercely. He then undid the latch on the jewellery box and stared.

"I know it looks like I'm trying to replace James but I'm not it's just that it's not likely that I'm going to have an heir and you my godson and you have Black in your blood from your great-grandmother so that give you the right to be the Black heir, if you except I mean, you don't have to, you could say-"Sirius babbled nervously.

"Sirius, shut up," Harry cut him off, slipping the ring onto his finger. "I'll do the whole formal thing before I leave, I've only got seven presents left."

"Oh," Sirius murmured before grinning widely and returning to his place next to Dora. Kingsley moved uncurling himself from around his wife long enough to pass Harry his present before going back to rubbing her stomach.

"Thanks Kings," Harry said with a teasing pout. "I know where your priority's lie."

Kingsley rolled his eyes. "My present was actually joined with your job offer, which I thought you'd say yes to," he explained to Harry as he opened it.

"Auror robes," Harry smiled sadly. "I wish I could have worn them but being an Auror's just not my calling."

"It doesn't matter, you can still use them as duelling robes," Fred piped up, cheering Harry up slightly.

"Or you could use them for role play with you boyfriends in the-" George leered.

"I think you're getting ahead of yourself there George," Harry warned but there was a slight smile and his right hand didn't move from where it had been playing with George's hair.

"Definitely getting ahead of himself," Sirius growled, making everyone laugh behind their hands. "Even if he accepts the courtship, you won't touch him." Both twins nodded with false sincerity.

"Down mutt," Harry joked, making Sirius glare at him playfully. "Alright, I'll shut up now."

"Alright you two," chuckled Amelia. She handed Harry a brown wrapped present and he ripped into it with gusto. Harry opened the velvet jewellery box and smiled at Amelia.

"It's lovely," Harry thanked her.

"It was a present from your mother," Amelia said quietly. "It was my 22nd birthday, my first after all of my family died. Well, apart from you Susan but you were only six months old. I thought I would spend my birthday on my own but at half six in the morning your mother portkeyed into the house and Apparited me in my sleep to your parent's spare room. I had one of the best birthdays since I was a little girl that day."

"I remember that," Sirius exclaimed and Remus nodded. A few of the oldest in the room laughed and the teen stared.

"Anyway," Amelia said above the laughter. "I thought you would want something of your mothers. It belonged to her before she gave it to me."

"Thank you," he whispered. He pulled the chain of the necklace out of the box and studied the locket hanging from the chain. It was oval shaped and gold, decorated with a vintage flower style. He opened it and found a picture of all the young members of the order on one side and a blank space on the other.

"It used to have a picture of my family but I took it out and put it in a new locket I got from my new boyfriend," she blushed when they all made whistling noises.

"I think I know exactly what photo I want in there," he said excitedly. "Before we leave can we all take one together, please?" he turned puppy eyes on everyone and they caved, nodding. "I've already had Lucius' present," he said happily. "Lucius owl ordered it and had it sent directly to me," he hastily explained when he saw Kingsley's look.

"So that was what he had me send after it went through the searches," Kingsley sighed.

"Well, what did my father give you?" Draco asked.

"He gave me an aftershave that change sent to the person who smells it favourite smell," he grinned.

"Of course he did," Draco muttered, smiling.

"Only four left now," Harry said happily.

"Yes and I am next," Poppy chuckled, handing over her present.

"Another book?" Harry asked as he looked at the parcel shape.

"Just open it," Poppy giggled. She full out laughed when she saw his face, joined by everyone else, as he stared at the present.

In his lap was a bronze plaque. It was the size of a shoe box and had Harry's name at the top. Listed underneath were all the injuries he had ever had at Hogwarts. "What?" he asked confusedly.

"That's going on your hospital room door," Poppy giggled. "Along with a name plaque portraying it to be the Harry James Potter private room."

"But…but you can't do that," Harry whined while the rest of the room laughed.

"It's already done, my boy," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at him. "Poppy had two copy's made of that plaque, one for you and one for the room."

"Not fair," Harry pretended to sulk as he took Flitwick's present. Opening it he looked puzzled. "Another ring?" he held up a man's ring with a small diamond.

"The diamond can hold a memory and is shaped in such a way that if you rub it, it will project the memory onto the nearest surface," Flitwick explained.

"Thanks sir," Harry smiled at him.

"And now for me," McGonagall muttered, handing over her own present.

"Now this one is a book," Harry laughed. He opened the red parcel and chuckled. "A diary. What do I need a diary for?"

"Sometimes you need to write your thoughts and feelings down," McGonagall told him gently and he smiled at her.

"Thanks professor but I doubt I'll use it," Harry chuckled. "Anyway, Albus I just now you are desperate to give me yours."

"Yes, here you are," said man chuckled as he handed the last present to Harry.

Harry removed the golden wrapping paper and opened the cardboard box within. "Medi-Magic books! Hold on, this must be the whole of the Flourish and Blotts Medi-Magic section."

"Not quite," Dumbledore chuckled. "Now, I believe it's time for lunch and then I think the children can stay until four as long as their homework is complete."

The teens moaned and groaned but didn't argue. "I'm going to dump most of my presents back to school I'll be back soon," Harry said, standing and stretching. He waved his wand at the presents and they shrunk and flew into the box that Dumbledore had given his text boxes in. He flicked his wand again and the box shrunk. Harry picked it up and put it in his pocket before moving towards the floo. He was followed by Poppy, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick and he allowed them to leave first before following Poppy to the hospital wing.


	9. Chapter 7- Research and Rulings

Chapter 7- Research and Rulings

"Before you go," Harry said to the teachers. "I'd like your opinion."

"On what dear?" Minerva asked.

"It's about the twins," Albus asked gently, "Isn't it?" Harry nodded. "I think," Albus started, slowly, "that it has to be your choice overall."

"I know," Harry whispered, taking a seat on his bed. "But I want to know if… if you think it would be fair."

"Oh, Harry," Poppy murmured as she hooked him up. "I think you need to give those boys credit. Their intelligent, if you tell them the truth and leave it up to them. You deserve to be happy, even… even if it will only be for a short while."

"However," Minerva said, briskly. "You also have to remember that they called you their Chosen. To Gemini twins, their chosen is important. If you do this, you may break them when you go, both mentally and physically. Just bear that in mind." She turned a swept from the room, Albus following.

"Thank you," Harry called after them.

Just before Harry stepped into the fireplace, he turned to Poppy. "Do you have that book on magic diseases? Can I borrow it?" Poppy went into the back room and handed him a boot titled 'Magical Diseases of a short life span'. "Thanks," he told her, slipping it under his cloak before disappearing in green flames.

Stepping out into the kitchen, Pansy immediately presented him with a place of tuna and cheese pasta salad that he happily dug into once he found a seat between the Remus and Tonks. He spat it back out a second later and bolted to the sink to throw up. "Harry! Are you alright?" Pansy asked.

"I'm fine," he croaked. "Just forgot that cheese doesn't agree with my stomach lately."

"If you're sure," Pansy said, fetching a plain tomato pasta salad that, after Harry had washed out his mouth, he happily dug into.

"Hey Remus, where's Sirius?"

Remus looked up from where he was reading with one hand and eating a sandwich with the other and replied, "He's in the trunk, trying to remember some of the memories that he lost in Azkaban." He finished his sandwich and stood, "I'm going to join him, hopefully I'll be able to remind him of what he can't remember on his own."

"Take him something to eat will you?" Pansy asked, prompting Remus to make a plate for his friend.

About ten minutes later, Harry stretched and stood. He glanced at the clock; three hours before they had to be back at school. He shuffled up to the library where Remus said the twins were and sat down opposite them, pulling out his borrowed book.

"What you reading?" Fred asked, trying to get a look at the cover. Harry tilted it but wouldn't let him see the chapter of the book. That would be too easy. "Harry?" He glanced up them. "Is there something wrong?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you sat over there," George pouted at him. Harry smiled at them and moved to squish between them. "Much better," George purred, bringing his hand up to curl though Harry's hair.

"Mmm," Harry melted. "Stop it, I'm trying to concentrate."

"No."

"Please."

"Still no."

"I'll give you both a kiss."

 **This content has been removed to comply with Fanfictions rules, if you wish to read it, please go to Archive of our Own.**

As the three enjoyed the blissful after effects, Hermione, Ron and the rest of the gang were in the drawing room, holding an impromptu meeting. "So, do we know why we are here?" Hermione asked.

"Not really," Lavender shrugged, looking rather ruffled. "I just know I was quite happy, um studying, with Padma and then suddenly your yanking me in here with her and being told to wait."

"Yes, I'm sure you can get back to your 'studying' once we've finished," Hermione said scathingly.

"Just because you're not getting any-" Lavender started.

"Enough," Padma commanded her quietly. "Why are we here Hermione?"

Ron cleared his throat, "Have you noticed anything odd about Harry?"

"Of course," Draco muttered.

"He spends a lot of time in the hospital wing now," Dean answered.

"Yeah, more than his monthly visit's," Seamus said, narrowing his eyes.

"Wait, monthly visit's?" Susan asked softly.

"Harry said he had to spend a night in the hospital wing every month, supposedly to counter act the damage from the Dursley's," Hermione explained.

"But he can't have been having treatment like that," Pansy said.

"Yeah, he would look better now than he does," Theo agreed.

"Maybe," Hannah said softly, "he's going to the hospital wing for another reason, one he doesn't want anyone to know."

"But we're his friends," Ginny whispered, upset. "Why would he keep secrets from us?"

"His home life," Theo answered, simply.

"Subconsciously, he doesn't trust anyone because of them," Blaise chimed in.

"Oh."

"Yes, oh."

"That doesn't explain what he is hiding," Hermione said irritated.

"Hermione, have you considered that he doesn't want you to know," Neville said softly.

"Well, too bad," she snapped back.

"You are not his mother," he said back. "He is your friend; he is welcome to some privacy."

"But-"

"She's just concerned and afraid, Nev," Luna chided. "We have only just finished a war and lost a lot of people."

"I don't want to lose him too," Hermione agreed, softly.

"None of us do," Ron muttered.

"So, we're going to investigate right?" Ginny asked. Everyone nodded.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Harry and the twins had moved to their bedroom to snuggle, Harry in the centre with the twins cuddling him between them. Harry shifted so that he could see them both and said softly, "I have to tell you guys something, and you need to let me talk or I…I won't be able to finish, okay?"

"Harry, wh-"

"Just let me say it," he waited until he got nods from the both of them before he continued. "When I was six, my aunt finally got fed up of me and took me to a doctor. He, after a lot of test's diagnosed me with something called cystic fibrosis. And for five years, I lived with it, that I would most probably have a shorter life compared to everyone else and that every month I would have to spend a couple of days in hospital. And then came magic and I thought, maybe it could make me better. So I told the teachers, saw Madam Poppy. But she ran her scan and found it wasn't a muggle syndrome at all. Instead, she found I had something so rare, only one person in a generation has it. I have Humor Viscerum." The room exploded as soon as the twins registered what he had said. Slowly, after a few minutes, they calmed and instead hugged Harry extra tight, seemingly never to let go.

"Oh, Harry," Fred sighed eventually. "How… how long do you… do you have left?"

"I most probably won't survive the year," He whispered sadly. "So, you see, I would understand if you don't want to continue this and if you want the ring back and I would appriate it if you didn't tell the others cause I can't quite take it yet and… What?"

The twins were looking at him, puzzled. "Why would we want to call of this?" George asked.

"We love you Harry, have done for a very long time," Fred continued. "We would be honoured to spend the last few months of your life getting the chance to love you up close."

"You deserve to be happy," George finished.

"But… Okay, it's your choice. Now, I have something I have to do, then I will be back," Harry stood. Ignoring the hands reaching to pull him back down on the bed and the twins whinng about how they should cuddle more after his revelation, he strode towards the door. "It will only take ten minutes."

Down in the trunk, Sirius and Remus where sat on the floor, pictures scattered around them. "What about this?" Sirius asked Remus, pointing to a picture of James hanging upside down from some muggle monkey bars while Lily stood in the background holding a laughing Sirius up.

"That was just after Lily and James started to go out, the summer before our seventh year. Lily demanded that if he was serious about her he would be willing to go somewhere in the muggle world. He agreed so she arranged a picnic at a muggle park and James spotted the little play park and decided to have a go."

"It looked like we had fun," Sirius said, wistfully.

"You'll remember at some point," Remus said, hand going to his shoulder in comfort. Leaning backwards, Sirius mumbled something. As the two nearly pressed together, Remus's arm came to rap round his stomach. "What was that Sirius?"

"I said, I wish I hadn't forgot in the first place."

"Sirius, you can't blame yourself."

"I know. It's just, sometimes I think I'm remembering something and I ask that person about it and they say it never happened. My brain keeps playing tricks on me."

"Oh, Sirius…"

"What about this one?" Sirius said, pointing, trying to pretend that he hadn't just shared such a deep thought. Remus took a look and blushed. "What?" The picture was of the pair of them fast asleep, curled up in a bed. A young baby Harry was asleep between them.

"It was when we were babysitting Harry, before…"

"Oh," Sirius mumbled. "Why are we sharing a bed?"

Remus cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably, his face tomato red. "It's… Um… Because… Because…"

"Remus," Sirius began, tilting his head back to look at Remus through his lashes.

"Sirius… God, you still look so handsome," Remus went pale, hand slapping to his mouth in shock.

"So I was right," Sirius murmured as he pressed backwards. "I was, right?"

"Right about what?"

"That we were together before everything."

"Yeah," Remus breathed as their lips connected.

At the entrance of the trunk, Harry swaggered away, grinning like a madman.

"Guys," Tonks calls up the stairs. "It's time for you to head back to school!"

"Okay!"

"Be there in a sec!"

"It can't be!"

"I don't want to!"

"God," Harry mutters to the twins. "It's like living with toddlers." They sniggered. Five minutes later, everyone was amassed by the fireplace, their overnight bags being spelled to stay in their grip.

"Right," Remus started. "Harry, you're going first with the twins after. You going to the hospital wing. The rest of you are flooing to Dumbledore's office and no detours, the headmaster has a check list for you all to sign your names on. Ready. Good, get going."

"See you later, Pup." Sirius hugged the life out of Harry, waiting before he had stepped into the flames to stop the twins from following. "If you hurt him I will lock you in the basement and experiment with spells to find what hurts you more before cutting of your pricks and making you eat them, followed by you balls. Understand?" Both twins, pale as paper, nodded quickly, ducking under his arm to step through the floo.

"What took you so long?" Harry asked.

"Sirius gave us the 'you hurt him, I hurt you' speech," Fred answered, cupping himself in remembrance. Harry giggled slightly, pulling the twins with him to 'his' room.

"Poopy needs to do another check up," he explained. "Then we're free. And you're going to explain what is meant by a Gemini's twins 'chosen'."


	10. Chapter 8- Laughing out loud

AN: Sorry this took so long, back to college fun, not. Anyway, as you can see if you check my profile, Harry lives. Yay! Let the fun commence.

Chapter 8- Laughing out Loud

"Right, that's everyone," Dumbledore said happily as Pansy stepped out of the fire. "Please remind Harry and the twins to come and sign the list before getting lost in each other."

"Yes headmaster," Hermione answered from where she was guarding the door, not allowing anyone outside. "Now," she proclaimed, waving her wand. "We are going to the library, no argument's."

"Is this about what we talked about earlier?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded, ignoring the groans surrounding her at the thought of studying. She tapped her foot and waited for them to stop, glaring at them all sternly. "Oh shut up," Draco scoffed. "There are seventeen of us, we could read collectively read the library in less than a week, it shouldn't take too long to read the healing section." They set off, Hermione leading the way.

"I suppose," muttered Ron.

"It's for Harry," hissed Ginny as she smacked him round the back of the head. "Now Hermione. I noticed you cast a spell on us, what was it?"

"A sort of notice me not spell," Hermione explained, already in research mode. "It will allow each of us to see what we're looking at but anyone we don't want to know can't it's so that Harry won't work out what we're doing and stop us."

"Very clever," Justin whistled.

"That's Hermione," Seamus chuckled as the crossed the threshold of the library, Ron and Seamus hesitating before following.

"Right," Hermione said. "We should split up to make it less obvious that we're all studying the same thing. I just need to charm these pieces of parchments to connect to a master piece so that we have all of the information in one place and then we can get going." She had pulled out what looked like a whole shops worth of parchment and began to cast a series of charms on each separate piece. As she finished on, she handed it to someone while they made sure they were blocking her from the sight of Madam Prince should she come down the healing isle. Slowly, everyone picked up a stack of books between three and five, depending who it was and drifted to go and sit in their houses in different places. Slowly, as time passed, lines and lines notes appeared on the master copy until, after two hours, the parchment was nearly two metres' long and stretching the length of the table.

As the everyone began to pack away to head down to dinner, Hermione sent the word around to meet up in the ROR about an hour afterwards to discuss things. As they left, they failed to notice that the bottom of the master copy ripped off, leaving the key information they needed behind.

"So," Harry started as he and the twins lazed in the conjured sofa in Harry's room. "Are you going to explain?"

"Well," George started, after they had shared a look and seemingly decided George would be spokesperson. "First, what do you know of Gemini twins?"

"I know that all of them are decedents from the original Castor and Pollux, the first documented set of Gemini Twins and they weren't really gods, just very powerful wizards who turned themselves into a constellation in order to stay together. I know that they were bonded together with a woman to make their bond socially acceptable because while incest seems to have become popular in the last hundred years, it wasn't back then and twins weren't really understood all that much. They had three sets of twins, all identical, with her and who were all Gemini twins that basically every pureblood is descendant from because of the intermarrying thing from the last few hundred years."

"So, just the history of them then," George summarised.

"Yeah," Harry shrugged, contrite. "But there isn't much on the inner workings of you lot because you keep it all such a close guarded secret."

"That's because of the chosen part," George explained. "In all honesty, a chosen is a person that both of a set of identical twins fall in love with, even if it is at different times, meaning that their in sync in that choice. But it will only ever happen once. Not even our kind know why, it just does. But back when it was Castor and Pollux, they were the first people to even actually take a person to be between them, as the chosen thing didn't exist back then, and most other twins were able to ignore their bond enough to blend in to society and marry separate people."

"So," Harry said slowly, "Those too created the chosen thing."

"In a way," Fred decided to continue, giving his twin a break. "They taught their children to find someone who could except both of them at once and to not care what society thought about them for it. They taught it to their children, and so on until it became ingrained into each set of Gemini twins magic to find someone who could except them both, together."

"And I fit this requirement," Harry said softly, leaning up to kiss them gently from where his head was on Fred's chest, Fred himself leaning against one arm of the sofa, George the opposite with all of their feet tangled together.

"Yeah, you do," Fred and George said together, goofy grins on their faces.

"But," Harry said, suddenly sitting up, "What about when I… I mean, you said it only happens once?"

"Yes, it only happens once," Fred said softly. "And it will leave us a bit… empty. We'll start to withdraw a bit and have mild depression and a load of other things. But," he continued, seeing Harry about to interrupt and play the selfless hero. "Not only is it too late to change it, it will have been worth it and much better than if you had said no."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," George began. "If Gemini twins get refused by their chosen, they kind of shut down. More often than not, they'll kill themselves to make the pain of it go away. So, either way, something bad would have happened and we prefer this option, no matter that we've only got a short time with you."

"You might not," Harry admitted. "It's just that because only one person a generation gets this disease, sometimes not even that, it hasn't been studied much. The unspeakable's have started on me, coming once a month to take samples and sometime test something on me. Magic has evolved a lot since the last case, they might succeed, they might not."

"So, we just have to hope."

"Yeah. In the meantime, I have some wicked ideas for pranks…"

"Harry, Fred, George," Ginny called, spotting them entering the great hall. "Down here."

"Hey guys," Harry said, plonking down with a twin on each side. "What you been up too?"

"Oh, we all went to the library and blitz through our homework," Hermione lied flawlessly.

"Ah," Harry muttered distracted by Fred nibbling on his neck. "Eat the food, not me."

"Your tastier," Fred muttered, even as he pulled away to eat his shepherd's pie.

"You lot are cute," Neville grinned.

"OH. MY. God." Ron screeched, catching sight of the promise ring that had found a home on Harry's finger. "You are mental, absolutely barking mad. Why would you accept? They demons, they'll murder you by exhaustion with all of their pranks."

"Are you finished?" Hermione shook her head. "Congratulations Harry."

"Ron," Harry said, face twisting into a leer. "I should hope your brothers can wear me out."

The whole table burst out laughing as Ron went bright red, proclaiming, "I want to know those details and keep it where I can't see it, please." They finished their dinner, heading up to the common room and just lounging around, Ron trouncing Harry and Hermione at chess. At the same time. Eventually, Harry yawned and he was dragged away by the twins.

"It's only seven," Ron muttered confused.

"Oh Ron," Ginny chuckled as they stood, using their absence to leave and run to the RoR. "That yawn was faker than Hagrid claiming to be a fairy."

"Oh, shut up Ginny," Ron panted as they legged it up the stairs.

"Sorry we're late," Hermione greeted everyone already seated around the room. "We were hanging with Harry and the twins."

"That's fine," Draco said, smirking at the look on Ron's face.

"I can tell you lot got here first," Ron groaned, looking round the obvious Slytherin inspired room.

"Actually," Pansy grinned mischievously, "Hannah, Terry and Susan were here first and Hannah told me that Susan and Terry created the room." The two blushed brilliantly, refusing to look anyone in the eye, though Terry accidently glanced at Pansy.

"Great," Ginny said, pretending to be put out. "More converts." She winked at them and they smiled back gratefully as everyone else groaned at her.

"Right," Hermione said, taking charge and pulling out the master scroll. "Hmm, that's strange." She pointed to the ripped bottom. "It shouldn't have been able to rip."

"Maybe you got the spell wrong," Theo said softly. Hermione shrugged, having grown up enough that she could admit that she didn't get everything right all of the time.

"Maybe. Now, Padma, do you have that list on Harry's symptoms." She handed it over from where she was comfortably cuddled up on Lavender's lap. "So, so far we know that he wheezes quite a lot, he can't even walk the staircases without getting out of breath, that he seems to get a different infection a week-"

"He's had his spleen, appendix and a kidney removed," Ron added. "Harry told me when I saw the scars on night. Oh, and he can't have a lot of potions without modification, like the normal scar removers."

"Okay, that goes on this list," Terry said from where he was sat on the floor leaning over the low table writing on another piece of paper. "Once we have all of his symptoms we can go through the other list and narrow it down."

"Right," Draco agreed. "He has to take a potion twice a day and has little appetite."

"But his appetite could be to do with his time with his… family," Ginny sneered the last word but Pansy was already shaking her head.

"He hasn't been back there in nearly two years," she reminded. Ginny opened her mouth to argue but Pansy carried on "It wouldn't continue to affect him now. Also, add that he seems to have intolerance to some foods, like cheese and tuna."

"So, intolerance to strong tasting foods," Terry murmured.

"He hasn't grown much and not much weight gain."

"He has to monitor his sugar levels."

"He does those weird floor exercises for something."

"Incontinence and joint aches, he told me."

"Ah. Maybe I should try some."

They continued to list everything they had observed that was weird about Harry, discarding some things as part of the war or his time with the Dursley's. Eventually, they began to go through the list crossing out anything that didn't match. Eventually they were left with four options, "A hormone imbalance, the magical version of Asthma called Suspirium, Organi Defectus and Tardimoriens." Hermione announced.

"God, I hope it's not the last two," Susan whispered.

"I swear there's one more that fits," Dean told them. "I remember reading about it and writing it down but I can't remember what it was called or any of the other details other than the symptoms."

"Maybe it was on the piece that ripped," Luna suggested innocently, winking at Neville who grinned.

"Must have been, can you remember what book it was in…"

Harry chuckled as everyone headed down to breakfast. As he took as seat, he subtly twitched his wand, gasping as his chair suddenly seemed to explode under him, sending him and about twenty other students around the hall flying up into the air. "Ow," he whined as he landed with a rather large thump on the floor. As everyone began to laugh at the unfortunate students, Harry flicked his wand again, causing another set of students to join them on the floor, Ginny among them.

"Everyone stand up," Hermione commanded, having understood what had happened. "There are airbags in the seat cushions." While most students didn't get what and air bag was, they stood anyway as Hermione pilled the cushions against the wall. She then sat back down as Madam Poppy rushed down to see if any students had been badly hurt only to realise that the floor had a softening charm to protect them from harm. She sighed, before laughing ruefully.

"Harry, Fred, George," Hermione yelled through the door to Harry's private dorm. "It's time for dinner!" There was some muffled thumping before an affirmative was called back. "I'll meet you down there but if you're down in ten minutes I will come and drag you, Harry!"

As the threesome straightened themselves up and headed down to dinner, Hermione and Ron were chuckling to themselves at the state of them as they sat down. They ate, chatting between, or in Ron's case during, bites of food about homework, Harry showing of the new t-shirt the twins had given him. Dinner swapped for desert and Harry grinned as, instead of reaching for the Ice Cream, he went for the plain cream. Suddenly, everyone around the hall began to shout or choke, spiting the ice cream back onto their plates.

"Fred, George…" Hermione said, glaring at them only to stop when she saw they had also taken some ice cream and were now struggling to swallow along with the chocolate sauce and banana chunks making the taste so disgusting.

"Very well done," Dumbledore suddenly said, standing. "However, could the prankster or pranksters please step forward to claim your designs." He was watching Fred and George, obviously waiting for them to claim credit but frowned when it did not happen. "All right. In that case, if I ever found out who orchestrated these pranks there will be a week's detention, with another week added for every further prank."

"Harry," Fred beamed as they skipped up to him in the common room. "We have something for you. It's in your room, come on." They dragged him away, everyone watching giggling think they knew exactly what the twins had for Harry.

Instead, in the centre of the room, was a trunk. "You brought me a trunk," Harry deadpanned.

"Not just any trunk," George grinned. "Once you add a drop of your blood, and the blood of anyone you want to give permission to have access to it, it will open to only those people. It also has a trap room so that if anyone without your permission tries to get in, they will end up in the room."

"Wow," Harry breathed.

"That's not all," Fred grinned. "It also has an apartment inside, sort of. It's got a kitchen, a living room and a bedroom with on suit bathroom."

"I love it," he declared. "I love you." He spun round, grabbing the nearest twin to snog the life out of.

"Poppy," Harry said as she was hocking him up to the magic draining system.

"Yes Harry," she answered, distracted.

"Can you teach me how to do all of this myself?"

"Well, I suppose," she said, looking surprised. "But why?"

"Cause, other than Neville, Luna and the twins, no one else from my friends knows yet and I want to be the one to tell them. They've started to research and I just know their following me around to try and figure it out. So far, I've managed to lose them and keep how often I'm actually in here a secret but they'll wise up soon." Poppy chuckled, before beginning to explain what everything did and how to set the system up.


	11. Chapter 9- Suspicious circumstances

**AN: I am so sorry for the wait! I now have a whole new opinion for those authors who don't update in the lead up to Christmas and a respect for those who do. Wow, finding time to just sit and write this has been just impossible until this weekend. So much work to do for college, uh. Now, just to warn a few of you, there will be references to straight sex in this chapter, and in others in the future. On Archive of our Own, their will actually be Straight sex depicted, hopefully well. Now, please review to tell me if it is good, I have never done anything like this before. Also, the vote dictated that Harry will live; it was close though. Right, on with the chapter.**

 **Forgiving out.**

 **Chapter 9- Suspicious circumstances**

Ginny was staring above her head, seemingly unable to understand what she was seeing. Finally, just as she was about to lift her wand and attempt to escape he highly unusual prison, she heard a familiar tapping of shoes from round the corner that made her groan. As soon as a pair of posh, Italian designed shoes stepped over the invisible boundary, the mistletoe above Ginny's head flashed and then began to jingle.

"I thought all of the Christmas decorations had been taken down," Blaise questioned, confused as he came to a stop in front of her and followed her gaze. Shrugging, he went to step round her only to brush against what seemed to be a barrier that flashed red for a second. "That's not a normal piece of mistletoe, is it?"

"No," Ginny answered, dropping her head to hide her blush. "It trapped me in here about ten minutes ago and a voice told me that I would have to kiss whoever became trapped with me."

"That's not so bad," Blaise responded before he realised that he was the one trapped with her and blushed. He mentally cursed when he realised she was wearing the perfume he had given her for Christmas and it blended with her just as well as he had though it would. Unconsciously he inhaled deeply to get more of it, stepping closer as he did so. He jumped when the mistletoe began to glow making Ginny's hair flame red around her. He shifted as he felt himself stir at the sight.

Ginny sighed, heating slightly when Blaise stepped closer in what she thought was his impatience to get it over with and be able to leave. She tipped her head up to peck him on the lips, pausing for just a second longer than appropriate, savouring the feeling of his lips pressing just perfectly against her before stepping back. She was dismayed to still feel the barrier behind her. "I'm afraid it has to be a proper kiss," a jingly voice sounded from above their heads. Blaise chuckled huskily, lighting a fire within Ginny's core.

"Well," Blaise purred with false confidence, raising his hand to cup her jaw. He felt her shiver and suddenly felt a surge of courage, stepping forward and locking his lips to hers. Instantly, he swept his tongue into her mouth, chasing a taste and felt her come alive against him. She pressed one of hands to his chest, the other clutching his head so he couldn't escape and pressing as close as she could get. Blaise mirrored her, moving his hand to the back of her head, the other to her waist.

Ginny gasped as they drew apart, barely pausing to take a breath before meeting together in a storm of passion. Hardly caring as the mistletoe jingled before disappearing, Blaise slipped his hand down under her thigh to hock it round his waist, pushing Ginny against the wall. She used it to grip hard and then let her other leg leave the ground to clench his waist, tossing her head back as her crotch meet his hardness and pushing back against it.

Blaise hissed, moving his mouth to suck at her throat and then down to tease her nipples through her shirt. The pair jumped when they heard a large bang, both searching the wall way and spotting an open window that was hitting the wall. Ginny giggled, slipping her feet to the floor and sauntering to close it. She glanced over her should and continued to sashay down the hall. Blaise, realising where she was heading, chased after her and swept her up into his arms, re-attaching his mouth to hers. He kept it suckered to her face, then her neck as he paced outside the ROR, praying it wasn't already in use. As soon as the door appeared he rushed through it and then pushed his flame down on the bed.

 **Edited for Fanfiction. Please go to Archive of Our Own to view this STRAIGHT sex!**

"Glad it was you," Blaise slurred, reaching for his wand again and casting a cleaning charm on the bed, then a summoning charm for a flannel.

"Glad it was me what?" Ginny asked.

"Glad you were my first," he replied sleepily, wiping her down and then, throwing it away, curling up around her. Ginny smiled, joining him on her side and having a quick kiss. Slowly, the pair slipped into sleep.

Harry gaped when Blaise carried Ginny straight past him without noticing. He was suddenly glad he had unlocked that window and casting a gust of wind to knock it into the room. He was sure they would have been embarrassed to have continued as they were right there in the hall way. He began to laugh quietly when he saw Blaise re-attach his mouth to Ginny's, re-adjusting the flower bougets in his arms and cancelling the compulsion charm on the corridor, Harry returned to his second mission and began his trek to the Owlery.

As soon as he arrived, he whistled and several owls dropped down onto the posts, Hedwig among them. He reached out to stroke her, carefully preening her feathers. "Not today girl," he told her. "Clover, Rose," he called, whistling afterwards. Two owls jerked out of sleep up above and peered down at him. "Come on, I have a job for you. OW! Hedwig, it's not like that. I'm trying to help Terry and Pansy!" At his announcement, the aforementioned owls shock themselves and flew to join Hedwig. Harry gave them all an owl treat each, admiring the beautiful red feathers of Pansy's paper sized owl. Clover, in contrast, was a black and white Indian Eagle Owl, and was nearly double the size of Rose.

"Right guys, you're going to help me get your owners together," he said cheerfully. He held out a bouget of Begonia's to Rose. "These are for Pansy, Rose. I promise they only mean deep thoughts, nothing else. It's meant to be from Terry as I know he has a lot of deep thoughts about her." He snickered as he attached the flowers to Rose's leg when she allowed him to. He then turned to Clover with the second bouget, some Sunflowers. Seeing her seemingly unappreciated look, he hastened to explain, "These mean adoration, alright, so don't look at me like that. Okay?" Clover seemed to eye him in distrust for a minute before holding out her leg.

"Thank you guys," Harry smiled once done. "Now, if you could both wait until their alone when you deliver, I would be much appreciated." The birds gave him a look of distain before taking flight into the daylight. Harry chuckled before glancing at his watch and hurrying to Charms.

The sound of tapping at the window mad Pansy jump from where she was doing her homework. She stood and opened it, smiling when her Red Owl swopped into the room. "Hello, Rose," she greeted. "What have you got for me their?" She waited for Rose to get comfortable on the table before reaching to release the cargo. She gasped in delight when she found several Begonias' all wrapped up in a beautiful green silk fabric. She stroked the petals before asking Rose, "Who sent them? Who is having deep thoughts about me? I wish you could talk, especially now," she sighed.

She straightened, fetching the Hogsmead flower catalogue and searching through it until she found what she was looking for. Smiling she summoned her quill and began to fill in the order form.

"Hello Clover, what do you have for me?" Terry plucked the Sunflowers from his temperamental bird and barely blinked when she immediately swept back out of the dorms window. He knew Clover hated the winter here in Scotland and would prefer that she could return to her nice heated Owlery in the Boot Manor so didn't take it personally. He smiled down at the sunflowers, twisting the stems through his fingers. "So someone adores me, do they," he muttered. "I wonder who?"

He flexed his wand, incanting a flower into existence and smiled as he stood and made his way to find Clover.

"Oh, Clover, what have you got their?" Harry said, jumping. He took the note first, then quickly removed the red poppy when Clover clicked her beak at him. She quickly took off, swopping out the window and into the Owlery. "Now, where did I put that book?" he muttered, searching his trunk for the fluorography book he was using for his current project.

"Ah ha," he cried, then quickly skimmed to the letter P. "Poppy, poppy, where are you? There! A general poppy means eternal sleep, oblivion and imagination, a yellow poppy means wealth and success, a white poppy is consolation. There we are, a red poppy means pleasure. What does Terry mean by that I wonder? Pleasure at the compliment? Or something a bit more carnal? I'll just have to read his note."

 _To whom this may concern,_

 _I take pleasure in your compliment as the single flower should suggest. I must ask, who are you?_

 _Kindest regards,_

 _Terry Boot_

Harry smirked before a loud bang from the common room distracted him and he decided to put the letter to one side and investigate.

"Oi! Zabini! We want a word with you!" Blaise glanced up from where he was doing his Potions homework in library, paling when he caught site of all six Weasley brothers at the entrance, only Ron cowering from Madam Pince's glare. Blaise had the brief thought that it served him right for shouting in the library before he decide to man up and take what was sure to be a torturous conversation with a hand full of salt. He stood up and gathered his work, folding it neatly into his bag before boldly making his way to meet his doom.

George and Fred each grabbed an arm and began to escort Blaise down the corridor, Charlie and Percy walking in front with Bill and Ron bringing up the rear; Blaise felt like he was on his way to court. Frog marched all the way to down to the dungeons, Blaise was shoved into a chair in one of the empty classrooms and had to watch as Bill sealed the room with so many wards he flinched.

"Now, Zabini," Fred or George started. "We've heard from a reliable source that you think your good enough for our sister. Is that right?"

"Yes, she-"

"We have also heard that you have been very… affectionate with her," the other twin chimed in.

Ron stepped in-between them, twirling his wand and making Blaise gulp. "We've come to see just where you're… attentions run."

"You see," Charlie continued, flexing his muscles as he leaned against the wall. "Ginny is not only the youngest of us but also the most vulnerable right now. She's the first Weasley in generations to be female and that makes her highly fertile. The Weasley's are notorious for being unaffected by contraception spells and potions."

Seeing the way Blaise paled at that, Percy cut in. "And we definitely don't want to hear that our sister is compromised before she is married, do we brothers?"

"Certainly not," Bill rumbled, catching on. "After all, any man that is that dishonourable is decidedly not worth our sister's time."

Finally having enough, Blaise shoved Fred and Georges hands of his shoulder and stood. "Look, guys, I think you should have a little more faith in your sister. She a wonderful person, a living fire of a soul and I know I'm not worthy of her. But. She. Choose. Me! Get over yourselves and trust that your sister can look after herself; I still haven't forgotten how powerful her bat bogey hex is. Now, if you excuse me, you interrupted my homework hour and I would like to get back to it." He stomped towards the door, jerking to a stop when he heard clapping.

"Well done, mate," Ron told him, clapping him on the back. "That's exactly what we wanted to hear. Someone who understands Ginny."

"Remember though," Bill chimed in, smirking at him. "I'm a curse breaker. I can break any ward you throw up to protect yourself."

"I'm a Dragonologist," Charlie added. "I've survived working with Dragons for nearly 8 years. Bare that in mind."

"I'm Senior Undersecretary for the minister," Percy said pleasantly. "I now also represent the Weasley family in the Wizengamot."

"I don't think we need to explain ourselves," Fred and George said together.

"If your hurt Ginny," Ron summarised. "You'll have just ruined your life."

"Remember that," they said together before Bill dismantled the wards. The second the last ward collapsed, Ginny burst through the door, stepping in front of her boyfriend.

"Leave him alone," she snarled, raising her wand ready to defend. Immediately, her brothers raised they arms, trying to avoid being on the end of her wicked hexing. "If I find any of you have done anything to him…"

"Now, Ginny," Blaise said, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Your brothers were just pointing out how careful we have to be due to your families' fertility." She blushed before her eyes widened just a touch. "Come along, our friendly chats over now. Late mates." And he ushered her out the door, watched on in awe by her brothers.

Once a safe distance away, his hissed to her, "I hope you know a spell to check."

"Yes. Sorry, I forgot in the heat of the moment," she hissed back then tapped her wand to her stomach subtly. It glowed white for only her eyes to see and she sighed in relief. "All clear. I think we might need to employ some muggle methods from now one, just in case."

"Agreed."

"Hello Rose," Harry sighed, deciding that he would avoid using Rose and Clover in the future is they were going to be as foul tempered as to hit him round the head to wake him up. He took the note and bouget of mature roses from the red owl, ducking as her wings aimed for his head when she ook off. He read the note and reached for his book.

 _Dear…_

 _Well, I don't really know who you are. So for now, I will call you flower, as that seems to be your preferred method of communication. Please, tell me who you are and what you want?_

 _Pansy_

 _Bouquet of Mature Roses: Gratitude_

Harry smiled and called Dobby. The next morning, Pansy and Terry woke to a yellow Chrysanthemum on their bedside tables. At almost the same time, they breathed: "A secret admirer!"


	12. Chapter 12- Some home truths

**AN: I am so sorry. I get the feeling that I am going to say that a lot. I will try to be a bit more regular on updates but I have m mock exams coming up so don't count on it till after February.**

 **Also, still unbetad work, so stop telling me off. I am Dyslexic, I don't always notice when something is spelled wrong.**

 **Forgiving**

Chapter 10- Some home truths

"Harry?" Harry groaned, swatting at the finger that began to poke him in the cheek. He rolled over to escape the now two fingers that were poking at his face and chest and jarred awake when he rolled straight off of Fred's lap, onto the floor with a grunt.

"What the..? Why did you wake me up?" Harry pouted, sticking his tongue out at the twins when they only starred at him and frowning when they didn't react. He peered around, trying to figure out what has the twins in such a mood and thumped his head back against the floor when he saw two bouquet baring owls perched on the arm of the chair.

"Okay, give," he said to the owls after deciding to ignore the twins for the moment, raising his arm for the hawk owl to land first as she had the heaviest load. He retrieved the large bouquet of mature rose blooms and the attached letter, chuckling when the female owl hunched down by the fire to warm her wings. He had barely sat up before the barking owl landed on his knee and barked in his face. "Yes, alright, go and join your girlfriend," he muttered as he removed the lavender and note from his feet.

"It's not what it looks like," Harry finally said, turning to his twins.

"Then what is it?" Fred asked neutrally.

"Me trying to get Terry and Pansy their happy ever after," Harry simpered, smirking at the twins dumbfounded looks.

"That's why you were giggling when Pansy was gushing about her secret admirer," George snickered.

"Yep," Harry grinned before pausing in opening the letter attached to the roses. "Although, you do realise how many of these types of things Dumbledore and the elves intercept and politely reply no to, don't you? If I wasn't ill, you'd have to help me deal with the hundred or so I get a month." Harry smirked slightly at the twins furious expressions.

"Why don't they understand you're taken?" they both growled.

"Because we have yet to go public thanks to Hermione's leash on Rita," Harry replied, smirking harder. He turned his attention from the twins and to the letter in his hand.

 _To whomever you are,_

 _As the bouquet tells you, I am very grateful for your admiration._

 _I must ask, are you male or female? I am sorry if you are male but I will tell you now that I hold no attraction to your gender._

 _I like the owl, if it yours? She is very beautiful?_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Terry_

Harry snickered, handing the not up to the twins to read as quietly went to fetch his book from the dorm, mindful of the time and his dorm mates snoring. He sat down again, this time on Georges lap as the giggled about Terry's stuffy way of writing. He opened the page to R, looking for roses to double check the meaning of the flowers.

"What you doing, Haz?" Fred asked him, trying to peer over both his brother and Harry's shoulders.

"Haz?" Harry asked, distracted as he ran his finger down page.

"Year, Haz," Fred nodded. "Do you not like it?"

"No, it's fine," Harry blushed. "I kinda like it." He looked at the bunch of lavender lying on the side table and skipped to the L chapter in the book. He scanned the text and chuckled. "Pansy doesn't trust me," he told the twins as he picked up the letter.

 _To my secret admirer,_

 _Is this a joke? Prove to me it isn't or any other bouquets go straight in the fire!_

 _Pansy_

 _Lavender: Distrust_

Harry sighed, setting the note aside. "I think I'll need your help with Pansy. You still have your permission to leave to go check on the shop every weekend? Good, here's what I need…"

Harry huffed as he slipped into an alcove, narrowly avoiding being caught be Snape, the third teacher to have been patrolling this part of the castle. He stumbled backwards through what he had thought was a wall. He turned round, frowning when he found a staircase. Shrugging, his trip to the library forgotten, Harry decided to investigate and set up the twisting staircase.

By the time he had reach the top, he had counted about 150 steps and he had only started counting two thirds up. He looked around the hall way, covered in a thin layer of dust and with the torches both hanging from the wall in pieces or the oil empty, and had a moment of fear for this ominous corridor before he shook it off. He opened the first of many door and scowled when he found another, short stair case leading to another door. He quickly hurdled the 20 or so steps and tried the door that was annoyingly locked

Tapping his wand against the lock, whispering, "Alohomora!" When it didn't work, he resorted to muggle means and smirked when that wielded results. He peered in through the door, remembering his first year before stepping through when the coast was clear of dangerous creatures. He was startled to realise that he was currently inside a dorm room, a girls dorm room judging by the mountain of make-up, the petrifying pink covering the walls and the nail varnish nasal burning smell. Harry is slightly terrified to see at least three posters in the six beds, red room.

He bows out back through the door that he now realises looks like the back of a book case and winces at a flash of cold that touches his hand from the door. Once the door was shut and relocked behind him, he rubs his hand through the grime and finds a plaque reading: _Gryffindor- sixth year girls._ Suddenly, it hit him what this corridor must be; a short cut to the different dorm rooms for the professors to use in emergencies, obviously forgotten about by even the elves.

He quickly leaped down the stairs and headed through the door opposite and found another red door atop a slightly longer flight of steps labelled as the female seventh years Gryffindor's dorm. He contemplated giving Hermione, who had gone to bed with a book headache early, a heart attack before choosing to instead fully explore his new find.

As Harry finally left the mile long hall way hours later, he was satisfied to have discovered that the corridor lead to every single female dorm with in the classroom, giving him the possibility to do something no pranker had ever been able to pull off- prank girls in their dorm rooms. If when he returned to his twins, admittedly empty handed of the books he had gone to find, and jumped them without a second thought, leading to three thoroughly content men.

Later that week, when the twins had returned from checking on their store, Harry enlisted them to help him create the next set of bouquets for Pansy and Terry with the flowers they had brought on his request. He set out the flowers on to two tables, on mark Pansy, the other Terry before setting the twins to help cut and tie the flowers together.

"Do you think I should start telling people?" Harry asked out of the blue.

"About you illness?" Fred asked tightly. When Harry nodded, the pair sighed. "It has to be your choice, but yes, I think you should at least tell Remus and Sirius."

"Yeah," Harry sighed, accepting the hug George pulled him into.

"I know it's hard," he whispered in Harry's ear. "But you have me and Fred, okay? We won't leave you." Harry nuzzled into his chest for a bit, leaning his upper body into Fred when he joined the cuddle before pulling away and finished tying Pansy's bouquet to the barking owl. As the pair flew away to deliver the flowers, the three in the tower cuddled up together in front of the fire and began to plan.

Down in the dungeons, Pansy was lounging in front of the fire with Blaise finishing up their Potions work before heading up to bed when a tapping at the entrance way disturbed them. A sixth year that was sat closest to the door opened it and let the barking owl that flew in settle on her arm. The boy carried him over to Pansy and carefully handed protesting owl to her.

Pansy untied the box attached to the owl's leg and told the owl it could go. Barking in protest and trying to free itself from Blaise, the owl was taken back out into the hall way where it eventually flew away.

Pansy opened the box and gasped at the beautiful arrangement of flowers inside. She pulled them out, settling them across her knee, and began to recite what each type of flower meant. "A red tulip, that means… either believe me or a declaration of love. A star of Bethlehem, that's rare to see in a bouquet. I think it means hope or maybe hopefulness. No, it's hope. A gardenia, it can mean you're lovely or secret love. They used to white chrysanthemums which mean truth. And some Pansy's, that's loving thoughts, some bittersweets, they mean truth too, and finally some apple blossoms and they mean promise. All in all, considering the work they went through, I'm entitled to trust them."

"Pansy," Blaise interrupted. "Shut up. Tell everyone in the morning, it's nearly midnight. No one cares."

"What do you think I should send them in return, Blaise?" Pansy asked, having ignored him. Bliase groaned, banged his head on the table and then stood up and left, swiftly followed by the few upper years still awake. "Hey!"

In the Ravenclaw tower, Terry and his dorm mates groaned when they were woken by a tapping at the window. Anthony, who was nearest, quickly scrambled to open it, asking, "Who sends owls this late?"

"Terry's secret admirer, obviously," sniggered one of the dorm inhabitants as the owl swept in and dropped a white box onto Terry's legs. The owl stopped by the treat bowl, kept there for the boys own owls, before quickly hoping out of the window and heading back to the owlery. Terry carefully opened the box and pulled out his bouquet, taking no notice of his dorm mates teasing as they went back to bed.

Terry reached into his bedside table and pulled out the same book that Harry currently owned, too tired to remember the flowers meanings of the top of his head. He started with the eucharis lily, quickly finding it's meaning to be maiden charms. He moved on to the Pansy's and found them to mean loving thoughts. He found Queen Anne's lace meant delicate femininity, the snapdragons meant gracious lady and the white rosebuds to mean girlhood. He presumed the white carnations where meant to be saying woman's good luck gift, not innocent, sweet and lovely or pure love. He absently wondered why the pansies were there before deciding to think on it in the morning and adding the flowers to the ones already in a vase beside his bed.

The next morning, there were several screams from all over the Ravenclaw tower and girls ran from their dorms clutching their books. There was a clamble between them to get out of the door before Terry, the oldest male prefect, arrived and whistled. "What is going on here?"

"Oh books!"

"They have no ink!"

"The words have gone!"

"Someone has stolen the words from our book!"

"Enough! Put your books on the table and sit down!" Terry commanded. Everyone did as they were told. "Anthony, go and see if our books have been tampered with, please?" Anthony quickly rushed upstairs while Terry quickly scanned through all the books, finding no words, only a few pictures. He set two books aside on one table, giving the girl who had handed him those books a look.

She cowered and suddenly snapping, "My dad gave them to me, I was never going to read them but when my beauty book was empty I went through every book I own and found them all the same." Terry eyed her, trying to decide if she was telling the truth.

"She's not lying," one of the fourth year's dorm mates piped up. "I was there when the books were unwrapped. She tried to burn them and then threw them under her bed when it didn't work, swearing to never read them.

Terry sighed but was distracted by Anthony returning with a handful of books, one from each male dorm. Terry flicked through them and frowned when he found they all had the words still inside. He looked at the girl from before and told her "You should have given those books to Dumbledore and your father would have been arrested a lot sooner."

"Sorry, but he's my dad, you know? It felt wrong to dub him in it." Terry rolled his eyes but gestured that she was forgiven.

"As for the matter of all the books," Terry said, raising his voice. "From what I have seen so far, only the girl's books have been affected. That means, thanks to the charms on the stair case, that only another girl could have done this. While anyone could, theoretically, get into our common room, I think only Hermione would actually be able to guess the password, meaning that the perpetrator has to be a Raven. You have until breakfast to come forward and put thing right before I take all of the effected books down to professor Dumbledore."

An hour or so later, no one had yet come forward and Terry sighed. "Anthony, help me levitate these down to the great hall, please?" Anthony nodded and between the two of them they had the hundred or so book hovering behind them as they walked down to breakfast. It was to this sight that those already at breakfast were treated to as Terry walked up to the head table and let the books come to rest around him, Anthony following.

"Headmaster," Terry started, aware of every eye in the hall trained on him. "Someone in Ravenclaw, a girl, has made the writing in the other girls book disappear. Could you make them reappear, please, so they have them for class?"

"Let me have a look, my boy," Dumbledore said, picking up one of the books and flicking through. He frowned. "What are you on about, the writing's right there on the pages?" Terry spluttered, picking up a book from the pile. To his amazement, the writing had returned, although much fainter than what it should be.

"Oh, I know what this is," Anthony said. "Someone made the ink invisible unless under a special light. There are pens like that in the muggle world; they use them to write secret messages. Look, the ceiling is admitting a blue light, that the light that reveals the writing."

"Is it indeed?" Dumbledore glanced up and then hovered his hand above the book to block the light and watched as the writing disappeared. "I will cast a spell to make all of the lights like this so the Ravenclaws can use their books in classes until I find a spell to make the writing re-appear." He waved his wand before biding the Ravenclaws to come and collect their books.

By the end of the day, the books had been returned to normal but suspicion was writhe in the Raven house over who had played the trick.

A few days later, every adult of the Order of the Phoenix was waiting Dumbledore's office as well as some of their partners. "I still don't understand why Dumbledore asked us all to come?" Percy muttered as he helped his now confirmed pregnant wife through the floo. "Does he not understand how busy we all are?"

"I understand, Percy, but it was not me who called this meeting truthfully," Dumbledore said from the door, startling everyone.

"Then who did?" Dora asked, stroking her bump.

"I did," Harry said as he followed Albus into the room, flanked by his twins. "I have something to tell you all. It's something-"

"Harry," Sirius interrupted, grinning. "If you're going to tell us you accepted the twin's courtship, I think it's pretty obvious." He gestured to how Harry had immediately sat in both twins laps, curling up slightly before straightening.

"No, it's not about that," Harry sighed before smiling. "I have though, just for the record."

"Remus, our pups all grown up," Sirius pretended to cry while Remus shock his head at his mate and offered his congratulations.

"Be serious," Lea, Bills girlfriend and the ancient runes teacher, told Sirius. She had a feeling she knew what Harry was about to tell as although she didn't teach the boy all of the teachers were required to know about his condition, bar Severus. "And don't make that joke!" she ordered crossly.

"Thank you Lea," Harry said, nodding slightly at her questioning look. "Now, um, I don't really know where to start." He looked to Albus for help.

"Perhaps at the beginning, when you were still with Them," he suggested.

"Yeah, okay," Harry nodded. "So… um… when I was- no that doesn't sound right. Um, you know I lived with the Dursley's when I was younger. I used to get a lot of chest infections and Petunia eventually took me to the doctors to find out why because they stopped me working. After a lot of tests, the doctors told me I had something called Cystic Fibrosis. It's a genetic thing that causes you lungs to keep filling up with fluid and it has to be emptied out." Harry paused to let that sink in for a second.

"But Harry, magicals can't get muggle illnesses," Bill said at exactly the same time Amelia cried "But that's horrid. My aunt had that, she died on her 32nd birthday."

"What do you mean, she died on her 32nd birthday?" Sirius asked. "Is that common?"

"Oh, yes," Amelia told him. "Although my aunt actually exceeded the doctors expectations. Most don't live past 30."

"What?" Sirius and Remus whispered, turning to look at Harry.

"All of that is besides that point because magical beings can't get muggle illnesses," Bill repeated.

"Bills right," Harry admitted. "I was wrongly diagnosed until I came to Hogwarts."

"So," Charlie said. "You're not going to die before 30?"

"No," Harry said. "I'm going to die within the next year or so unless the unspeakables come up with a cure by then."

"Your what? Why?"

"Harry, that awful!"

"Your joking!"

Every clambered to talk over each other until Kingsley yelled at them to be quiet and let Harry explain. Harry took a deep breath and said "I actually have Humor Viscerum. It's-"

"A rare disease that spreads a thick mucus through your system until it clogs up your heart," Tonks finished for him.

"What? No! I won't accept this! This is a sick joke, Harry!" Sirius shouted.

"It is not a joke, Sirius," Albus said. "I was there when Poppy gave the diagnosis. As where half the current staff."

"You knew about this? And never told me!" Sirius yelled, then turned to Harry. "And you! You've known about this since your first year, why didn't you tell me? You know what, I don't want to hear it. Don't talk to me, I'll contact you!" And he stormed out.

Remus stood, shooting Harry a disappointed look. "He just needs some time to calm down and think. Come to terms with it. I need some to." And he left Harry sitting in the twins lap in tears. The twins stood, Fred carrying Harry and told Dumbledore he could explain the rest, they were going to calm Harry down.


	13. Not a Chapter, a goodbye for now

Hi guys, this is forgiving here.

I've decided to leave this story and put it up for adoption. My dad died suddenly at only 49 and a lot of other things are going on in my life these last few months. Anyone who wants to continue my story, can you message me so I can send you all of the plans and previous chapters? You don't have to stick to the plan, although I would like the pairs to remain the same.

I'm sorry guys but I need some time to sort myself out.

Forgiving, signing off for a very long time.


	14. Goodbye

Dear all, on Fanfiction LoverShadowGirl and on Archive of our Own ThirteenRedVampireBites has agreed to adopt this story.

Thank you both, I can't wait to see what you do.

Now, on to some not so polite business. Over the last couple of days, I have been grieving for my dad, as you should all know. SO WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE SENDING ME STUPID, NIT PICKING MESSAGES LIKE THE FOLLOWING!

The Warty Hogg  
Please remove all material that you did not write. Stealing from copyrighted work is both a violation of the posting guidelines and of international copyright law. If you do not understand the difference between fan fiction and copyright infringement or the FFN guidelines, I would be happy to explain them to you.

BAFan

/Finally, someone noticed that Harry was silent and turned from the show in front of them, back to the bed. Professor Flickwick said his name but got no response. He moved forward to the end of the bed and look at the boy. He was thin, to thin, his mind registered. He was pale and his glasses show his normally responsive eyes to be blank. "Poopy!"/

Um, you really might want to correct this typo, lol. Poopy?

/"Is it love again?" said Riddle, his snakes face jeering. "Dumbledore's favourite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like and old waxwork?/

I'm confused. If Dumbledore fell from the tower, how is he still alive? Was he not AK'd by Snape? Did I miss where this was explained?

/"Oh, oh, I need to put the decorations back up and write out invites and let Molly know so that she can start cooking and. . . ."/

I thought Molly was killed in the Battle? And Cho Chang, for that matter, but in here Harry talks about promising her to take her on a date the next summer?

/ . . . "Can you pierce my eye please?" . . . ./

Sounds pretty painful. :-)

And then, as if it makes it all better:

I'm very sorry for your loss. Good luck with everything.

DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT RIGHT NOW I CARE! To BAFan, I don't give a shit if I have made mistakes as I have turned this story away. Find the new author metioned above and point it out to him/her. Okay?! And The Warty Hogg: GO TO HELL! YOU ARE THE LOWEST OF THE LOW, PICKING ON ME WHEN I AM DOWN! WELL, CONGRATULATIONS, I JUST BURRIED MY DAD TODAY AND THEN CAME HOME TO THIS. I HOPE YOUR VERY PLEASE WITH YOUR SELF!

Just a warning to LoverShadowGirl and ThirteenRedVampireBites, The Warty Hog also sent me this:  
If anyone "adopts" this story, please remove all the stolen material.

Make sure to disclaim your work so this git can't get you in trouble.

Congratulations The Warty Hog, this is me completely leaving Fanfiction because obviously the people on here have no hearts. I will ignore BAFan as bad timing and will now exclusively use Archive of our Own under the same name. I hope your happy!

GOODBYE!


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